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Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Thirty Six (and Tala)
🕑 Added 2024-07-21 23:52:07 +0000 UTC“I can’t believe you made me get out of bed for this,” Bonnlyn groused as the members of Team Seven watched the first of two Shards be wheeled down the ramp of the newly arrived airship.
Marline chuckled as she turned to the eye the dwarf. “Not at all excited to see the shard we’re going to be spending the next two weeks practicing on?”
“No.”
William smiled, as he watched his people walk over to collect the first machine from the quartet of Royal Marines that had carefully wheeled it down the ramp. “Really, you seemed pretty excited to see your first Shard up-close last week? What happened to that Bonnlyn?”
“She saw one. Three even. It was very moving,” Bonnlyn deadpanned. “The first time.”
“Bonnlyn…” Verity chided, to utterly no effect. “It’s not that early.”
The dwarf just sniffed, breath misting in front of her face in the twilight rays of the dawning sun. “Agree to disagree, country girl.”
William was about to get in his own bit of teasing, but paused as he caught sight of a familiar figure striding down the ramp after the second shard.
“Instructor Griffith?” he called out as he jogged over to her, uncaring of the way his team stiffened literally as one behind him.
“Cadet Ashfield,” the dark elf called back, tugging her uniform jacket tightly around herself as a stray blast of aether billow forth from the ship’s ballasts. “Or should I call you Count Redwater now?”
William instinctively moved to say that either worked, before pausing as he recalled the importance of placing the proper respect on his new title. “Count Redwater is probably for the best, Instructor.”
The woman nodded stiffly as she came to a stop in front of him, eyes shifting over his shoulder to take in the distant figures of his team and the Redwater Household guard that were present, before shifting back to his face.
“In that case, you should call me Countess Griffith in turn,” she said. “Back at the academy it will be different, of course, but here and now, we are theoretically of equal rank.”
“Not Joana?” he teased before he could help himself.
However, rather than the instant denial he’d expected, he was surprised as the woman hesitated. “Not… in public.”
Oh, that was interesting.
“Of course, Inst- Countess Griffith,” he nodded in the courtly fashion. “In that case, as one Count to another, I bid you welcome to my domain. Though I do find myself slightly curious as to why someone of your standing would be sent on such a menial errand.” He paused. “Not that I’m not delighted to see you. I am.”
And that was the truth. As far as he was concerned, any day in which he got to see Instructor Griffith rocking a new outfit was a good one. And while he thought the blue-grey uniform of Griffith County was quite nice, he preferred her usual Instructor’s outfit.
“As ever, it is my privilege to go wherever Her Majesty commands,” she shrugged. “And given the enormity of the gift she’s presenting you, she thought it prudent for it to have a trusted escort, even if my time spent as an escort from the capital to here was measured in minutes.”
He resisted the urge to frown at that. Given recent events, he was pretty sure the gift she was delivering was less a “gift” and more of a ‘bribe’ to keep his mouth shut. Still, he wasn’t so uncouth as to say that aloud.
“Not that I’d be so uncouth as to discount the value of a borrowed shard or even the frame accompanying it, are you sure your presence alone isn’t the true gift here, Countess?” he teased, enjoying the fact that there current circumstances had rendered them ‘equals’ of a sort.
Plus, the errant squeaking and groaning of the airship behind them served to muffle the sound of their conversation to any curious listeners. Of which there were several, given the marines and his guard had finished unloading the shards and the rest of his team was still watching him.
However, rather than be flustered by his words like he’d hoped, the woman adopted an expression of puzzlement? “The shards? I mean, I suppose they have some value, but surely that is barely worthy of mention against the value of the ship itself?”
“The… what do you mean the ship?”
The woman eyed him. “What do you mean, ‘what do I mean’? Didn’t Yelena-”
The dark elf paused, a weary sigh escaping her. “No, of course she didn’t. That would be just like her.” She eyed him. “This ship is yours, William. A belated gift of Yelena for the many services you’ve done for our country.”
William found his mouth struggling to work as he glanced between the elf and the massive ship behind her, as if only just now seeing it for the first time.
And in a way, he was. Prior to just now it had simply been ‘a ship’.
Now it was ‘his ship’.
And it was beautiful.
And big.
Very big.
Perhaps a few dozen meters short of being a true cruiser, it was either an exceptionally large frigate or a light cruiser.
One of fairly unfamiliar make, if he was totally honest.
“She’s… giving this to me?” he breathed. "I mean, I know I requested a ship, but... this is a goddamn cruiser!"
Smiling quietly, Griffith nodded. “That he is. The Core you left in our care has already been installed after the old one was moved into a new frame.” The dark elf smiled as she looked up at the massive vessel. “The Jellyfish has always been a bit of an odd-duck in the eyes of the royal navy. He originally started out as an oversized transport, before the then admiralty decided that having a single dedicated transport for large contingents of marines was both a strategic weakness in the event of its loss and less useful than having more guns on the line. To that end they decided to strip out the extra transport capacity, add steel plating to the outer hull and install more gun decks. Making him into a light cruiser.”
William glanced up the ramp and saw that her words were correct, while the outer hull gave off the veneer of a more modern steel-framed ship, the truth was it was simply a skin covering the wooden frame. By and large, a fairly common upgrade intended to give older ships more staying power in a fight.
“And then he was adapted again,” William mused as he glanced at the underside of the craft, where no less than four shard drop-bays sat.
Griffith nodded. “That he was. From a light cruiser into a pseudo-shard carrier. One of the first attempts at such.”
“Not a particularly spirited one at just four bays. And I still count ten gun ports on this side.” William noted.
“Yes, hence why the design is still considered an odd duck. The rather lackluster shard complement for what is ostensibly a ‘carrier’ means it can’t really ensure small craft dominance in an engagement, yet the equally lacking gun complement means that if you move it up from the second line, it’s little more than a cumbersome, oversized and undergunned target.”
“Which is why Yelena’s pawning it off on me,” he decided.
“Which is why Yelena’s using the Jellyfish’s rather lacking reputation as an excuse to gift you with a light cruiser,” Griffith pointed out. “Make no mistake, off-hand I can think of a number of ships the Royal Navy could afford to lose before this one.”
Ok, he could admit she had a point. Poorly optimized for any given role or not, the Jellyfish was a light cruiser by definition. Usually ships of that scale were the domain of ducal fleets or well established wealthier counties. Definitely not the sort of thing that fell into the hands of freshly founded houses like his own.
Hell, just receiving an airship at all was cause for celebration. Creating a new frame for their core was typically the first and biggest hurdle for any newly founded house.
“I’m grateful then,” he said. “Though I can’t help but ask… the Jellyfish?”
Griffith didn’t quite roll her eyes, but he could see the temptation was there. “The Royal Navy has roughly thirty six ships in service at any given moment. The Crownlands have a roughly equal number. As does every other duchy on the continent. Not all of them can have names like ‘Indomitable’.
“Still… the Jellyfish?”
“Do you want the cruiser or not?” She laughed. “I’m sure we have a sloop somewhere with a far more impressive name. Given the size of your core it’d be a bit of a waste – also a contributing factor in you getting this ship – but I’d hate for you to feel short changed by being provided a vessel with a poor name.”
“Oh no,” William shook his head rapidly. “A cruiser is a cruiser. I’m just wondering whether I could change the name.”
Given the way the dark elf visibly twitched, apparently not.
“It’s considered bad luck to change a ship’s name,” she said slowly, words studiously neutral.
“The Jellyfish it will remain then,” he sighed, eliciting a look of relief from the woman.
Griffith smiled. “Make no mistake William, this is a princely gift. With that said, it’s nothing less than you deserve. Good service requires equal recompense, and while your gifting of these lands and very full bank account go some way to fulfilling that debt, in the eyes of the Crown, Yelena clearly felt it wasn’t enough to truly even the scales.”
William scratched the back of his neck at the honest praise, even as part of him thought about how the ship was likely an attempt to lessen the sting that came from the secret of the Kraken Slayer being forced out of him.
Which he would admit, as he gazed up at the massive ship, this went some ways towards doing.
Some ways.
Given just how desperate the entire country currently was for ship frames, he’d expected to have to make his own. Something that would have taken at least a year even with his plans to create the smallest one he could reasonably get away with.
To that end, Yelena had made good on her promise to repay him, even if he fully intended to continue nursing a small grudge over the woman threatening his sister. It was unreasonable, but he didn’t have to be reasonable where his sister was concerned.
Even if she was a greedy power-hungry brat, she was his greedy power-hungry brat, and anyone that tried to hurt her would die screaming.
Carefully keeping such thoughts from his face, he turned to Griffith. “Well, I am thankful. To that end, I think we can continue this conversation inside. If we stand out here in the cold any longer, I can’t help but feel Bonnlyn will be most cross with me.”
Griffith glanced over to where the quartet of girls was standing. “I would have thought that nearly a year of early morning PT would have cured her of that kind of softness.”
He laughed. “Not quite. Merely cultivated both a tolerance and an aversion. She’s well aware we’ve got but a fortnight before the new semester starts and she’s eager to enjoy what creature comforts she might before they’re once more stripped from her.”
Griffith scoffed good naturedly, but followed along.
“Now,” he continued. “The crew-”
“Are on-loan and willing to act as trainers for their replacements. The Queen has heard of your desire for autonomy and has no desire to…”
------------------------
It didn’t surprise him at all that rather than stick around, his team chose to make themselves scarce the moment they stepped into his workshop. For all that he rather enjoyed the company of the dark elf sitting opposite him, his team were not of the same mindset. Or at least, they struggled to see through the visage of Instructor to the delightful woman beneath.
Their loss, I suppose, he thought.
Either that or they were currently charging out to board his new airship. For all that Bonnlyn claimed fatigue where new shards were concerned, he couldn’t help but feel that a light cruiser might elicit a little more excitement on her part. Certainly, the group as a whole had looked a little… stunned, when he’d admitted that the massive vessel occupying his landing field now belonged to him.
Still, he’d not deny he was thankful for it. Teasing Griffith was all well and good in private, but in public they needed to maintain the illusion of cadet and instructor.
Not that it was an illusion, they very much were cadet and instructor, but he liked to think that through audacity – if nothing else – he’d managed to claw out some degree of rapport with the woman outside of the confines of that relationship.
“My thanks Xera,” he said as he turned to the wood elf. “I’m certain the Countess and I will be fine from here on out. I’ll let you return to your duties. To that end, when you get the chance, I’d appreciate it if you could perform a quick audit of our county’s newest asset. And start drawing up plans for training of a crew for it.”
Taking the dismissal for what it was, his castellan nodded stiffly before closing the doors to his workshop.
Idly running her hand over a series of blueprints, Griffith hummed. “Your new second seems a competent woman from what little I’ve seen of her.”
William took a swig of a nearby glass as he nodded. “Xera spent nearly forty years running this territory before I showed up. I’ll admit that experience makes my job easier.”
The dark elf eyed him. “Stillwater was also experienced. Yet you had her replaced for commanding more loyalty from your subjects than you yourself. What makes her replacement any different?”
He laughed. “I’d say there are a few key differences there. For one thing, Stillwater commanded loyalty from a group who very much weren’t my subject. That was the problem. Technically she was supposed to be my subordinate, but she had access to a group that I had no authority over and held more power than my own household guard – which she also ostensibly had command over.”
“The Royal Marines,” Griffith said.
“Just so.”
“Reasonable, I suppose,” she admitted reluctantly. “And the other differences?”
“Structural loyalty vs emotional loyalty.” He said without preamble. “My household guard answer to Xera as my castellan and because she has their respect, but beyond that they have an obligation me as count of Redwater. And beyond that they have an obligation to the Queen as citizens of Lindholm. As do we all.”
Griffith hummed and he continued.
“The Royal Marines? They had personal loyalty to Stillwater and structural loyalty to Yelena. Nowhere in that criteria was I included as Count. If I told them to arrest Yelena, they’d all refuse because… of course they would.” He shrugged. “By contrast, if I told my household guard to arrest Xera, some would hesitate out of personal loyalty to her, but I bet an equal number would obey out of structural loyalty to my position as their count.”
He paused. “Plus, over time I have the opportunity to win the personal loyalty of my people. By contrast, Stillwater could have transitioned out her marines every few weeks if she felt they were getting chummy with me.”
“Ugh,” Griffith grunted. “Talk like this is why I normally avoid politics.”
William reclined against a worksurface with a smile. “You brought it up.”
“I was curious,” she admitted. “After Yelena brought it up. Hearing your reasoning now though reminds me why I should stay in my lane.”
He cocked his head. “Aren’t you a countess yourself? Your territory is barely a few minutes away from here by airship. Surely you have to deal with some politics.”
“Less than you might think,” she said as she picked up one of the many metal objects on his desk. “My sister rules in everything but name – and I would give her that too, but if it didn’t’ prove useful on occassion.”
“As our dear Queen’s secret hand?”
William didn’t much care that she was clearly trying to discretely pilfer his secrets as he watched. His invisible watchers did the same every time he left the room. Which was why none of the blueprints present were “complete”. Each was but a part of a whole, and even then certain… elements were left unmentioned or substituted for something innocuous like water.
Piecing everything he had here into something like a cohesive whole would require a grounding in a number of sciences that just… didn’t exist in this world.
A clever enough soul might have been able to do it through context clues, but it would require a lot of luck on their part.
“No actually,” Griffith said as she put down the valve she was holding. “For when the department heads are competing for academy resources. I suppose that’s still politics, but of a more palatable variety to my eyes, given we all ultimately work for the good of Lindholm.”
She eyed him, irritation flashing in her silvery gaze. “No, I only found myself pulled into that role of ‘secret hand’ when one of my students turned himself into a national asset by casually upending the status quo as we understand it.”
More than a little amused at the rare show of emotion from the typically taciturn woman, he chuckled. “Sorry?”
“Accepted,” she sniffed. “But only grudgingly.”
He watched as she continued perusing his notes and other knickknacks. “You’re being surprisingly open.”
She hummed. “We’re more equal here and now. Merely a count and countess in service to our lady, at least here in this workshop. Just as in my office we’re Griffith and William. And just as within the rest of the academy…”
“We’re instructor and student,” he finished.
She nodded happily. “Indeed, and that level of insight is part of why I allow myself to subdivide our relationship so.”
“Relationship,” he leaned forward. “Is that what we’re calling it?”
A bare hint of a flush flashed across her features before she pulled up a sheet, practically using it a shield as she shoved it in front of him.
“What’s this?”
He eyed it.
“Two seconds.”
Then he splayed out both hands and sprayed a burst of aether in every direction. Not with any real force, but enough that the small area soon became filled with the vaguely transparent blue-green substance. Ignoring Griffith’s surprised cough, he searched the air for any… voids in the substance.
There were none.
Satisfied, he leaned back. “That, is part of a synchronization gear.”
Griffith just stared at him through the aether filled air. “Forget that, may I ask what this… bombardment was in aid of?”
He cocked his head. “I was just ensuring that we didn’t have any unwanted eavesdroppers. At first I tried spraying them with paint, but that just made any paint that touched them turn invisible too. Which I suppose makes sense, whatever method they use to make themselves transparent works on their clothes too.”
He waved his hand through the vapor in front of him, as it slowly began to fade from reality, the air getting clearer by the moment.
“So, if I couldn’t see them, I decided I’d come up with a method to see everything else.”
“Gaps in the aether,” Griffith realized.
He smiled, happy she’d caught on so quickly. “Just so.”
“Some might say that was mildly treasonous, to develop a countermeasure to the eyes of The Crown.”
“Some might say it was mildly tyrannical to have invisible spies following me at all hours of the day.”
“What if our Queen’s enemies discovered this technique?”
He laughed. “I’d be surprised if they don’t already have something better. Otherwise Yelena would probably have marched her people up North and had a few inconvenient malcontents disappeared.”
It would be insane to think that the Blackstones weren’t at least tangentially aware of Yelena’s invisible guards. For the reason he’d just mentioned. Indeed, he was pretty sure it was an open secret amongst those of sufficient social rank.
Of which his mother clearly didn’t qualify, given how loose lipped she’d been around him.
Which in turn spoke to a certain level of paranoia on the part of the Blackstones given they hadn’t revealed that capability to their co-conspirators. Though to what end, he couldn’t say.
Perhaps they’ve got their own invisible troops they’d rather keep secret?
And wasn’t that a discomforting thought.
Shaking his head, he continued speaking to Griffith. “It’s become a game at this point. They sneak in sometimes. I push them out.”
“And if they refused?” Griffith asked seriously.
His face went blank. “Then things would get complicated between us.”
“Ugh.” The woman did actually roll her eyes this time. “Must you choose to make everything so complicated?”
She turned, grabbing the same blueprint she’d grabbed before. “What’s a synchronization gear?”
“A means to shoot through a front mounted propellor without hitting the blades.”
Whatever answer the dark elf had been expecting, that wasn’t it as she froze, before turning around the sheet and frantically scanning it.
Which seemed odd to him. The notion that synchronization gears weren’t known already. They’d taken all of eight years to be developed on earth, and Shards had been around a lot longer than that.
And the locals weren’t stupid. Sure, magic had fucked with things like the early formation of chemistry in favour of alchemy, but given the importance of Shards, he would have thought more effort would be put into developing a synchronization gear.
Of course, like most things, the answer was rather simple after a moments thought.
Shards with front mounted propellors were rare.
Because the locals didn’t have synchronization gear.
And unlike on Earth where front mounted props were the only real viable option for early plane design, canard designs were quite viable with Shard type planes. The total lack of a big heavy conventional “engine” meant canards didn’t end up back heavy, which meant they didn’t end up falling backwards in a stall. Likewise, the fact that all pilots were mages and all pilots had flight suits, meant that every mage had an ‘ejector seat’ by default. Thus they didn’t risk being minced by the rear mounted propellor if they need to bail out.
With that said, rear mounted props were still vulnerable to fire from rear, and the props hitting the interrupted airflow created by the wings introduced vibrations into the frame, but those issues weren’t quite the death knell they’d been on Earth.
Still none of those issues were considered sufficient enough that a wholesale switch to front mounted props was ever attempted. Some existed, such as the venerable Roc, but they were an exception rather than a rule.
A case of lack of supply creating a lack of demand, William thought.
The need to mount weapons in the wings of front mounted props meant, which came with a whole host of other issues meant few front mounted props got built, and because few front mounted props existed, solutions for said problem weren’t really investigated.
“The Crown would be very interested in such a thing… if you can pull it off,” Griffith said with feigned casualness as she put down the sheet.
“No doubt,” he said dryly, even as he made a mental note to make sure she didn’t leave with said blueprint – even if it was unfinished.
Looking down at his drink, he laughed. “Do you think I could get another cruiser out of it?”
Rather than laugh in return though, he was surprised by the sudden silence that greeted him. Or rather, not silence, if he strained his ears he could make out the telltale sound of shuffling.
Looking up, he froze.
“I-I don’t k-know about a cruiser, but I could think of a… another type of… reward.”
Idly, he couldn’t help but note that he’d never actually seen a dark elf with Griffith’s complexion turn quite that shade of red before.
It was an idle thought though. To the back of his mind. Mostly drowned out by the expanse of chocolate brown cleavage that was even now unveiling itself to him, delicious white lingerie serving to accentuate her breasts as Griffith continued to slowly unbutton her shirt…
It was almost enough to make his mind come to a complete stop.
Almost.
Because… white lingerie?
Griffith was many things. Very sexy and tantalizing things.
A wearer of lingerie though?
No. That didn’t seem right.
Not at all.
A very boring sports bra and briefs, that would have made sense.
Lingerie though.
Stupid sexy lingerie?
…Now, if only he could get his brain down below to stop salivating and listen to him that there was something distinctly off about this whole situation.
“Do… do you like?” she asked quietly, a total one-eighty from her usual personality doing terrible things to his self control.
“I do,” he gulped. “I really do.”
Comments
Adamas Shield
Yeah the Queen hears 'he can do airship tech?' and decided to give away one that as a bit of everything. And is Old. So, anything done to it can be copy and any teaching will have her old veterans having eyes on new recruits^^.
Richard Anderson
They found Willian’s weakness.
Debiron
Okay okay okay, remove the broadside aether guns and aether powered Propellers. The Access aether can be for additional floatability so the ship can be heavier. Then add a bunch of props with aircraft engines for propulsion and 2 twin turrets of regular rifled cannons on the top predreadnought style. Then add some custom build shards and aa guns and you have a fast longrange battlecarrier which can take on pretty much anything
Conrad34xdsa
So Wednesdays chapter has become Fridays?
Conrad34xdsa
The mass doesn’t necessarily change. It’s still got plenty of mass and as shown earlier, the gas dissipates fairly quickly even contained. This might create an odd ballistic characteristics, but that could be worked out. Another thing to remember, it’s mass x speed squared. Speed has more to do with penetration, then mass. For example, .300 blackout can’t punch through 3/8” of modern mild steel whereas, 5.56, which has roughly half the mass but moving 1000 ft./s faster than 300 blackout can easily punch through that. For reference: https://youtu.be/4VksvRYUY0A?si=bcyWi1XgGNUSmc9r Plus, we don’t know how strong steel they use. They could still be using Harvey-nickel steel or worse instead of Krupp steel like what World War II battleships used. In the end, once the shell is able to penetrate the steel and get into the hull it only needs a relatively mild amount of high explosives to cause havoc. Considering there’s a good chance there are ships just like the Jellyfish that are steel on top of wooden hull beams and frames. A ww2 Fletcher would easily be able to punch through any armor that they use
Househut21
Jellyfish have potent stings that disable or kill. I wonder if the ship is going to be turned into a long range sniper cause it will be too small to sting something close up and survive once the big fish notice it.
mike wade
No, because having hollow shells would have little too no impact. It's the mass x speed that equals damage. Without mass, you'll have shit damage.
Conrad34xdsa
A possible weapon, which would be kind of interesting would be the idea of Aether filled shells. Shells with pressurized Aether would increase the range of the shell because, due to its lighter than air properties, it could make the shell lighter temporarily and thus gravity would affect it less in that time. Giving the shells a flatter trajectory arc would also increase accuracy.
Isak Mark
Now I know why you are called blue, because my balls are. ;)
Hue Man
I hope it is not a honeypot.
Dancingrage
The SHIELD Helicarrier would be a nice project, but there's no way in hell he'd be able to make that happen with what amounts to Victorian era tech and Medieval era social structure. Hover over a castle and tell them to "Surrender, or I just bring the ship down and crush everything underneath!" It doesn't take all that much to make for a super weapon for the era, though. Guns on Turrets (Even if they're as primitive as the USS Monitor's from the US Civil War era) would be a huge game-changer. If he threw those 10 guns per side into swivel mounts so they could aim better, that's even more of a step up. Then all that is needed is to upgrade the speed and maneuverability of the Jellyfish and he's set. Oh, and make those guns use gunpowder or smokeless powder, not Aether pressure: More range, WAY more range, and better punch power because of that magical higher feet/meters per second.
Business Casual
My thought was water on the floor and looking for foot prints/impressions.
Fishminer
Idk man, from everyone else's perspective this looks like an academy instructor deliberately going out of her way to start, or continue, an affair with a student. If this really is a honeypot scheme, its not very well thought out.
Hunter
I’m hoping William is able to secretly craft an aircraft carrier with all the biggest guns and fighter planes. Rock up to a battlefield as a juggernaught and demolish his enemies single handedly.
Katz
He didn't think with his dick for 6 months! That is almost a hesychast level of restraint! (Or at least so he thinks.)
Conrad34xdsa
One thing that I would love to see explored later would be the launch and recovery of aircraft. Depending on how that is done, it could affect how he redesigns his new light cruiser. He might invent a way to reload the launching spaces for more aircraft and recover them a different way It would be interesting to see if he goes for something like an Atlanta class with duel purpose 5 inch guns in the front and a flight deck in the back. He could Gut the lower gun decks in order make room for the necessary machinery, magazines, fuel, etc…
Hue Man
Griffith's actions and her out of character choice of undergarments makes me think this is an attempt to manipulate William. I hope it wasn't a direct order from the queen and it was Griffith's idea to seduce Will of her own will. Will is smart enough to know it could be an attempt to manipulate him. This could damage Will and Griffith's relationship. I do hope we get an NSWF scene between them next chapter, it feels like it has been a long time since the last one. After 6 months it is considered a drought, and I am thirsty.
Hue Man
This does seem like the best case scenario. But I can also see how this could damage Will and Griffith's relationship, when and not "if" they decided to talk about it.
Hue Man
I always thought Will was just wildly swinging around a broom and finding them when the broom hit them.
Hue Man
The Queen knows William's two weaknesses.
Hue Man
Yeah that is what I am thinking too. Will is smart enough to know this is an attempt to manipulate him. If Will does put a stop to it, this action could damage his and Griffith's relationship.
Random Information
“Make no mistake William, this is a princely gift ..." ->“Make no mistake William, this is a princessly gift ..." (since everything else is gender-swapped)
Jonathan Gibbons
Small note: seems mildly surprising that Griffith is saying "Griffith and William" and not "Joana and William" with regard to her office. Her last name and his first name? OTOH, she might just be not that accustomed to her first name in use while William is definitely not so much "Ashfield", so it's not _very_ weird.
Oreo-belt25
I noticed that too. It's a neat detail
Basil Harpham
I suspect it's a miscommunication. She was instructed to seduce and to her that means fancy underwear
Maddest Hatter
I think this is the most unsubtle honeypot I've ever seen too. Which either speaks to Yelena's low opinion of his intelligence or high opinion of Griffith
Tye Tass
Tala has major RBF lmao
JR9364
I could see that, but if his boat uses a drop style lanch for shards, his will need to have folding wings or be snub fighters. I know of only 2 successfully build aerial carriers designs, one a converted bomber with parasit fighters built by the Russians, and the 2 zeppelin carriers the US navy built. Both required very light/small planes. I-16s, F9C sparrowhawk, and Waco XJW-1. The zeppelin in particular needed a extending rigs to deploy and recover planes. As funny it would be to explain a jet engine to the queen and Griffin, I'm not sure how it fit on Their current carrier designs. Ground based planes though......
The Fire Piper
So what do ships really look like? Figuring the sky is a 3D combat space, I would expect something between a zepplin and the upper half of a Korean Dragon Turtle ship above and below. https://suitcaseandheels.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/turtleship1a.jpg
The Fire Piper
Now to put some 6 to 10 inch gun turrets on the top and bottom and as many Oerlikon 20 mm anti air cannons as can fit, and it will punch well above its weight. Being able to hit other ships from 5 miles out? It would be a massacre. We havent even talked about rocket salvos. Actually, we havent talked about rockets at all... they are cheap, relatively light weight and amazingly easy to make. Not as accurate, but would work great coming from a shard. RPG's would be pretty simple to make and in the hand of a flying mage-knight.... oh my...
Oneofmanynames385
Or extra nutty later and goes for a ME 262 or Meteor
JR9364
Jellyfish is probably the best thing for him to play with. And if 4 shards make it a Patrol Carrier, I'm guessing the two Carriers Blackstone is building are packing 15 to 20. This would make sense base on the size of airships we have seen so far. Makes me think he will probably have to go with a radial engine for his future project, and a electric motors in the wings to fold them of he doesn't open up the bottom of his new ship some more. I'm thinking he's going more in a direction of the wildcat/hellcat or zero than mustang/spitfire/messerschmitt styles. Or he's nuts and attempts a Do 335
Morpheus
oh NICE that looks so good. Not i just need to find another game like descenders
Morpheus
ya but it's fairly limited all things considered. there's no cultivator level bullshit going on. Mind control feels over the top, as does shape shifting, for this universe's power level.
Jonathan Gibbons
Strictly speaking you could sync it even with a swiveling tail gun, a couple cams and a couple differential gears are quite adequate to adjust the timing based on the aiming point. You probably don't need to, though, as you could also just not put the tail gunner where they'd need to shoot through the prop. It's just much harder for the pilot to aim while also flying if the guns aren't close in to the fuselage, which is why you need to pass bullets and prop through the same space on a both-front-mounted system.
Morpheus
hey if the southern brain didn't sometimes win out, the species would die off.
Sea Wolf
4 shards means it has enough capacity for his team, leaving 1 or 2 on the ship itself and of course this is assuming Will doesn’t upgrade it. Which I would count him at least considering.
Sea Wolf
Small detail I am enjoying as someone in a nautical profession: Ships here are apparently ‘he’. Which works perfectly for this world.
Jesse Gilbert
Here's hoping we run into a ship named the "Snowy Wind" or something, and it immediately sets William's sensors off about a suicide mission. (The Yukikaze is a ship notorious for being a sole-survivor)
Trevayne
I was thinking that William is wondering "How many different stingers can I come up with for my Jellyfish?"
mhaj58
So at last we find ourselves facing the honey trap. William is smart enough to see it, but is he smart enough to use it? Yelena is proving that her perception and judgment is not to be trusted. William has barely averted civil war and if she keeps sabotaging him she might end up being crushed like Tala.
JT
First thought that popped into my head at "Jellyfish" was William making a possible name change to "Man o'War"
Dancingrage
Picture the report that guard had to return with. "Subject elected to try to cover area with paint to locate us, now covered in dry paint. Request re-assignment to someone who's not so much of a little shit."
Dancingrage
Think that's next chapter because it ran almost to double length. Unless you're counting Griffith as breakfast, in which it's the same thing anyways.
Dancingrage
Turrets and better mobility spring to mind. I'll take 10 or so guns that can aim properly over 40 that can't any day of the week.
Dancingrage
She somehow looks like a particularly angry kitten in that picture, which is hilarious given how the first book wound up shaking out. The fluffy hair isn't helping her cause there.
Dancingrage
And, oddly enough, the sort of jack-of-all-trades ship (would it be jill-of-all-trades in this world?) that could, with some elbow grease, be shifted into a more modular setup that would allow for a single-role but hot-swapping to other roles, OR improving on that multi-function ability by upgrading what the ship has and can do to a sufficient degree that he (and I note that swap in ship genders, nice touch!) would punch well above his weight class despite not having the same level of guns/planes/armor/etc. Turrets alone spring to mind, off the cuff. If the planes are more powerful, the guns able to shoot farther, and the armor not as necessary because the ship is nimble enough to evade everything....
MarakEvans
I suspect he intends to modify any airship he receives. Thus the time-line may be factoring in a possibility of him building his own, depending on how long it would take to receive his allotted airship. William was probably thinking along the lines of "if the delivery of the entire airship takes longer than 2 years, I might as well build my own to a higher capability than whatever they will send."
Wotün, the Butterlord
Queen used: Honeypot! ...it's super effective!
Random Information
OK thanks. As I said I'm no engineer, so I don't understand this stuff.
Morpheus
I hope his brain stays on hold till after they do it. One thing we do know is that she IS interested in him. They almost did it on her desk once and that was BEFORE he became a state asset. So it's not a total lie on Griffith's part
Morpheus
He's disagreeing. The sync gear is for fixed guns mounted with the prop. It's impossible to aim a rear gun like this. You need a swivel and a separate gunner. Which you then can't sync
9 o’clock
Many planes have had that feature, but usually the enemy plane will shoot you down before you can shoot them down
Random Information
I'm not sure if you're agreeing or disagreeing there!
Dragoongfa
To accurately hit something with a gun you have to be able to line up a shot properly; a rear mounted gun would thus require the plane to fly 'predictably' enough to be accurate. In a dog fight with an other plane in your tail the last thing you want is to fly predictably. This is why fighters and bombers had rear gunner turrets until the jet age (and some even a few decades into the age), the turret gunner could aim the gun without paying heed into their own plane's maneuvers.
morten.p.h
Inexperienced perhaps, she knows what shes gonna do and how so I wouldn't say innocent as such. But I don't think she has gonna after a guy like this before
Random Information
I'm not an engineer at all, but wouldn't synchronization gear be useful for rear mounted props as well? Surely you want to shoot backwards at a Shard that is chasing you?
bob semple
I love the visual of him dousing a spy in invisible paint. Just missing the feathers.
Kaywye
No you're right. I can't think of a better term though....she might be somewhat enthusiastic, but just innocent on how to proceed?
Jon Thorn
It's a Trap!
morten.p.h
Given their previous interactions I am not entirely sure unwelcome is the appropriate word for those orders
Trevayne
One possibility is that it is an attempt to influence Will with a relationship, but it wasn't the Queen's idea. Instead it is Griffin who thinks that she can best serve Yelena by keeping Will on the Queen's side. It has the additional advantage of furthering a relationship that Griffin wants but finds questionable by telling herself she is doing it for Queen and country, not her own personal desire.
Dragoongfa
Bluefish, you fucking tease, I even know that you wont serve pancakes the next chapter and I hate you for it. Jellyfish is a good name though; whomever got stung by one can attest to it. The worst variants make you want to die in order to make it go away.
werotan
Hmm
Amit Gupta
What happened to the breakfast foods you mentioned?
Found&Lost
Oh gawds. Yelena figured it out! Will doesn't want to marry Griffith because then he'd be subordinate to her by gender. However, if Griffith relinquished her title for her sister THEN married Will, she'd reraised to a countess (from a knight) and so an instructor. So Yelena would have someone close to Will without raising his tyrant hackles.
Wolf_Senpai
"Well if he wont take a daughter, ill send him the instructor BWUAHAHAHAH" ~Queen of Lindholm
John
i can fix her
Galven Star
That's basically how I imagined Tala, maybe slightly longer hair, and more muscular.
Skinnybonz
The honeypot is clear, but his auxiliary brain doesn't care
Jay
Just to clarify after the edit, Will still says "Given just how desperate the entire country currently was for ship frames, he’d expected to have to make his own. Something that would have taken at least a year even with his plans to create the smallest one he could reasonably get away with." But earlier he demanded one of the three mothballed airships. Why wouldn't he expect one of them instead of expecting to spend a year a building his own?
Found&Lost
It certainly seems like that is Griffith. Someone certainly put her up to this though.
Allen Mainville
Stupid sexy Griffith.
Allen Mainville
Dammit William, stop thinking with your dick for five seconds buddy! You can do it man, I believe in you! Resist the beautiful Dark Elf!
CM
Thanks for the chapter! Unless I'm mistaken, that ( there ) should be ( their ). he teased, enjoying the fact that ( there ) current circumstances had rendered them ‘equals’ of a sort.
Kevin Neely
God damn it Griffith.
MaybeASquid
Oh I'm so excited for next chapter, thanks Blue!
Marius Petrauskas
great stuff, thx.
mraanonymous
I like where this is going.
Christopher Manoff
Yesssssss I love it when my favorite dark elf has screen time
Kaywye
Lmao true. She's either decided, or been instructed to work in an area she has no talent or expertise in...she's off her game because of it.
MarakEvans
Gap Moe.
MarakEvans
... Clumsy Griffith? ... There is potential there...
MarakEvans
Pressured, yes. But by what or whom?
MarakEvans
Try Flyout on Steam.
Third Ailing Primate
Oh no, someone better help Will with his spaghetti that's about to spill from his pockets
MarakEvans
William thought so too. Of course, minus the treasonous slaver family thing.
MarakEvans
Either way... *drools* Drama.
Jacob
Just a fair warning to Blue, I might be testing shard designs and flight characteristics in KSP for the next few chapters 😋
MarakEvans
@Jay and @John Just because an airship is allotted to William, doesn't mean that the Royal Navy can afford to give one to him immediately. There was mention of incomplete airframes that William knew of and assumed he would be assigned one. Ultimately, Yelena decided to expedite his delivery of a completed airship by assigning him a suitably non-critical ship. They allude to the size of the ship as a result of William's core being larger and likely wasteful to put in a smaller ship. Thus, this larger airship is easier to part with; being tactically least potent and practically most inconvenient to retain in the Royal Navy. (at least that is the vibe i'm getting)
Kaywye
Also, Tala looks almost as I pictured her. Always pictured her with long hair done up in a bun for some reason, but the expression on her face is exactly accurate to my imagination.
Kaywye
Holy shit. Somewhat blunt. Hopefully, William will correctly deduce whether this is a clumsy attempt at expressing true feelings or a ham handed execution of unwelcome orders. It could be either. And while our boy may be enticed, Hopefully his brain doesn't completely turn off from the sight of boobs.
MarakEvans
Shapeshifter is a question mark for me. The "rift" between the two... could be drama-worthy... depending on how they address the change in demeanor.
Morpheus
"they have an obligation me as count of Redwater" I think you are missing the word 'to' . Obligation TO me as count
Morpheus
"The rather lackluster shard complement for what is ostensibly a ‘carrier’ means it can’t really ensure small craft dominance in an engagement, yet the equally lacking gun complement means that if you move it up from the second line, it’s little more than a cumbersome, oversized and undergunned target" This bit also means that it's perfect for all manner of experiments as it's got a bit of everything even if it's pretty mid at everything.
White Neko Knight
Hu. She's been pressured into a honey trap.
Jacob
She found his Konami code
John
i'm a bit confused by this too lol. i guess he it just hadn't set in fully what getting an airship truly meant? like up until that point it was just an abstract thing
MarakEvans
Oh no. The "secret hand" reeks of the "someone's" influence.
Jacob
Why would a shapeshifter be necessary? Griffith is already a loyalist. The queen could simply ask her to do this
Blue Fishcake
Small edit for clarity :D
Blue Fishcake
https://www.patreon.com/posts/most-of-team-and-107309312
Aaron Greene
Exactly, 100%. Which is why this'll be a very interesting few chapters. There are quite a few different ways i can see William taking this, and I'm excited to see.
Nicholas Roberts
Even in a magic society, I feel like the more logical conclusion is that either the Queen is ordering Griffith to seduce William (for any number of reasons), or Griffith feels that in some way these actions will be useful for the Loyalist cause. Basically, here's the real world equivalent: the President sent his hot secretary to the house of a rich state's Governor, in order for them to get chummy. This Governor's support is critical for the President's goals, and the President knows that the Governor has the hots for the secretary. The Governor should see this as a political ploy, because when he opens his door and his work crush shows up and starts talking how it's their privilege to "serve the President any way they need," that's... not subtle. The shapechanging mind reader idea doesn't really work for me, because it just makes more sense for Griffith and Yelena to do this to bind William ever closer to the Throne.
Dominic MoonPace
Magic does exist
zmessing11
monkey neuron activation
Dankenobi1
Would you like some honey from the pot on those pancakes?
John
thanks for the chapter mr cake also, tala a cute
The Uub
Oh my. A picture of Tala, as well as a prelude to how Countess Griffith and Count Redwater may thrust themselves multiple times in to an even deeper alliance... Very nice.
Aaron Greene
If this is a shapeshifter then its an extraordinarily well informed one, with access to mind reading. This is an interesting direction for things to go, however it plays out.
Jay
Wait, William included an airship along with a countship when he was listing off his demands after defeating Tala. Why is he so stunned at receiving an airship and why was he expecting to have to build his own? Getting a larger one than would be expected is surprising but receiving one at all shouldn't be.
MarakEvans
!
Morpheus
Have you ever gotten a 'vibe' from a picture, then looked up the thing you got a vibe of and then realized that it actually looks nothing alike? I had that happen with the Kusanagi CT-3X from cyberpunk. Everyone thinks of it as the "Akira bike" but it actually looks almost nothing like the bikes in akira when you compare them I got the same vibe from your little AI generated picture here, and a character called Tanya the Evil. Nothing alike. Same vibe. Also, Why AI gen? Hire an actual artist, like we are hiring you!
Andrew
Thank you!
Dankenobi1
I say neither, I think its a good ol honeypot
Brian Roger
Oh no, we forgot to cook the pancakes! The griddle is nice and heated up too...
The Fire Piper
Thank you for another good chapter @Bluefishcake!
fezman81
Fuck, either the queen is putting her up to this, possibly even forcing the issue with that sleeping pact thing, or this is a loyalist using shapeshifting if that exists. Either way, there’s gonna be a rift between Griffith and William from here on.
Blue Fishcake
Fixed, thanks :D
TheDevotus
Lol, William leaking braincells on the floor
Dominic MoonPace
.ind control or shape shifter
Baron Von Mott
I was literally right about to go to bed 😂
Baron Von Mott
I've got a terrible suspicion we're all about to get blue-balled once again... 😂 Nice move by Blue though, with that point about Griffith being a Countess and living "a minute away by airship". Having them be nominally social equals, and functionally neighbors, is a great set-up for keeping her in the story long-term. 👍
Floplays
Mark
Haha! Now the queen plays dirty.
Carlos Torres
"My mind is telling noooooo, BUT my body, my body's telling me yeahhhh!"
kaalveiten
the classic honeypot
Dovahpriest
Seems the queen has come up with a different offering other than her daughters in order to get poor William under her thumb.
Business Casual
Huh..... I must have been asleep while reading that bit. Thanks Blue!
Blue Fishcake
" Aged twenty-one to his – nominal – eighteen, Tala Blackstone strode through the academy as if she owned it. Though, given that the house whose colours she now wore was named after her family, he supposed that in some small way the duchess’s daughter actually did. Frizzy dark brown hair that came down to her shoulders framed a rather striking set of green eyes. Striking enough that he had to wonder if she had some dark elf in her genealogy despite her otherwise pale features. If so, it’d be quite a scandal, given the Blackstone Dukedom’s long outspoken history of pro-human sentiment. Now, if that were all they championed, he might have actually considered their union, despite his personal misgivings. " I went back and double checked :D
Business Casual
I dont know if Tala was describe as blonde, but I always assumed she was.
Floplays
fuck yea, 2am but the waiting was worth it!
