Chapter 69: Daily Life of the Engineering Club

On the outskirts of the Millennium District, along the coast, lies a peaceful area where detached houses line the streets, interspersed with small offices, warehouses, and parks. Among them, clusters of red-brick warehouses and office buildings stand out prominently.

This area serves as the headquarters of Millennium’s Engineering Club, an organization that has existed since the school’s early founding days. Dozens of ships are moored at the docks and piers, their presence making the club’s scale and long history immediately apparent.

Because the Engineering Club is located far from Millennium’s central area, it is rare for students outside the club to visit on an ordinary day. However, today was different.

『A hero needs a ship to travel between continents!』

With that declaration, an adventure began—undertaken by a party of four. Though the journey took less than thirty minutes by monorail and bus, they deliberately chose to walk for the sake of the experience. As a result, they had set out in the morning and arrived just before noon.

"I'm so tired…"

"Big sis, you’ve been holed up playing games in your room lately. Maybe your body’s gone sluggish?"

As Momoi muttered her complaint, Midori immediately followed up with a sharp jab. Alice, meanwhile, looked thrilled to be visiting the Engineering Club for the first time, her eyes sparkling with excitement. Yuzu, on the other hand, didn’t even have the spare energy to voice a complaint like Momoi.

"Ta-da! We’ve arrived at the port town! However… to obtain a ship, we must defeat the boss. But where could they be?"

As if responding to Alice’s proclamation, a large figure suddenly appeared before the four of them. From the perspective of the generally short-statured Game Development Department, the person towered over them by more than a head. Big in every sense of the word—was this the boss they needed to defeat…?

"Hey there! What’s up, you little twerps?"

…No. She was Karao Seira, the head of the Engineering Club. While she could certainly be called the “boss” of that club, there was no need to defeat her to obtain a ship.

"Um… you’re Karao Seira, head of the Engineering Club, right? We’re from the Game Development Department—we contacted you the other day."

"Alice and the others need a ship to expand our range of activities, so we came to ask you to prepare one for us!"

"Oh? You’re full of energy! Well then, for now, come along with me."

Apparently intending to continue the discussion indoors, Seira turned and headed into the building. With summer at its peak and the heat oppressive outside, there was no reason to linger, and the members of the Game Development Department followed after her.

High-performance professional computers, 3D printers, gaming PCs, and countless loaner tablets filled the space. Contrary to the building’s retro exterior, the equipment inside the Engineering Club’s office was cutting-edge in a way that was distinctly Millennium.

Although the Game Development Department had narrowly avoided being disbanded, their budget was far from generous. Their results were still modest, meaning their funding was limited to begin with—and on top of that, Momoi in particular had a habit of using departmental funds to buy games under the pretense of “reference materials.”

Because of this, as the four of them gazed somewhat enviously at the office equipment, Seira spoke up.

"You wanted a ship, right? Do you have anything specific in mind? What kind of ship do you want?"

"Yes! A ship like this—one for a hero to ride!"

With that, Alice pulled out a strategy guide for Dragon Test and opened it to a page featuring an illustration of the ship used by the protagonists.

"Ohh… I see, I see. A sailing ship, huh… In that case, I suppose I’ll leave it to the kids in the yacht division…"

The Engineering Club was an extremely large organization, divided into several specialized divisions. In addition to the flagship warship division, there was a merchant ship division that handled cargo and passenger vessels, a fishing vessel division, a yacht division specializing in sailing ships, and a boat division focused on small craft. This structure allowed the club to respond to a wide range of requests from both within and outside Millennium.

"Do you have any preferences for size? Or any features you want added?"

At Seira’s question, the four of them immediately began listing their requests.

"Obviously, we need charging facilities so we can play games even on the ship!"

"Let’s put in treasure chests and lots of items!"

"It might be nice to have a room like an atelier."

"I’d be happy if there were a place where I could hide…"

As she jotted down their words, the head of the Engineering Club began assembling the ship in her mind, shaping it from a vague concept into something concrete.

After some time spent discussing details, Seira gathered their ideas together and asked what might have been the most important question of all when it came to a ship.

"Alright, the design should look something like this. Now then… there’s just one more thing left—the most important thing."

"And that is…?"

"The name—the ship’s name! Giving it a name is like breathing life into it, you see."

"Got any ideas?"

Seira’s gaze moved from one girl to the next. The members of the Game Development Department each fell silent, pondering the question. Then Momoi spoke up.

"I’ve got it!"

"Oh?"

"Big sis, you’re not going to pick some weird name, are you?"

Just as Momoi was about to announce the name she had come up with, her younger sister cut her off at the knees. Her face twisted into an expression that practically screamed, “Why not?!” But she quickly composed herself, grabbed a nearby sheet of paper and pen, and scribbled furiously before thrusting it forward with enough force that it might as well have been accompanied by a dramatic ba-bam! sound effect.

"Yuzu the Queen’s Revenge — the Yuzu Queen’s Revenge!"

"Huh?"

Yuzu, suddenly having her online handle used without warning, let out a small, startled sound. Midori and Alice, meanwhile, stared intently at Momoi’s proposed name.

"Hey, what’s with that lukewarm reaction?! I thought it was a stroke of genius!"

"It’s not that I think the idea is bad, exactly, but…"

"Yes… Alice thinks it’s a good idea! Yuzu is the head of the Game Development Department, after all, so putting her name into the Game Development Department’s ship—!"

At Alice’s enthusiastic agreement, Momoi nodded repeatedly, clearly pleased with herself. Seeing that reaction, Midori offered her own blunt assessment.

"But Yuzu-chan seems more like the type who gets revenge taken on her, rather than the one doing the revenge."

In online competitive games, it was a familiar sight: opponents would be utterly crushed by Yuzu’s overwhelming skill, challenge her again seeking revenge, and then be thoroughly beaten a second time.

"Don’t sweat the details! So, what do you think, Yuzu?"

"Um… I mean… hmm… but, well, it might not be bad."

Through the chain of events surrounding the Game Development Department—events that had begun with the threat of disbandment—Yuzu had grown more confident than before. Having her name used didn’t feel as uncomfortable as she had expected. And since she couldn’t come up with a better idea than Momoi’s anyway… she found herself thinking that the name would be just fine.

"Then it’s settled! That’s the decision—looking forward to it!"

"You got it! Leave it to me! As for the construction period… it’ll probably take about a month and a half to two months. I’ll let you know when it’s finished, so just sit tight."

After tidying up the documents and materials, Seira turned back to face the four of them. With the ship construction request complete, their business at the Engineering Club for the day was effectively finished—and that made the next exchange feel only natural.

"Y-yes… we’ll head back right away…"

"Hm? Nah, you came all this way. I was thinking you could hang around and have a little fun before you go."

As she spoke, Seira powered up a gaming PC and gave them a wink. Considering how often the Game Development Department caused trouble, it was probably their own fault—but just how long had it been since someone had treated them this warmly?

"I-is that okay?"

"Sure. You’re the Game Development Department, right? Well, we’ve got our own reasons too. I wanted to ask you to do some test play for a certain game."

She double-clicked an icon on the now-booted PC. What appeared on the screen was—

"Millennium of Warships?"

"Yeah. It’s a naval combat game we’re developing in the Engineering Club… or rather, a tabletop-style combat simulation system."

The Engineering Club possessed numerous warships and conducted regular training exercises.

"But since the hulls are relatively small, even a direct hit with training rounds could sink destroyers and the like. So we developed this system to avoid having to run live exercises every time."

After all, both time and resources—fuel, repairs, and maintenance—were limited. Developing a tabletop training system had been essential.

"The original purpose is training, so normally everything’s controlled by AI… but we made it so you can manually navigate and fight too, like a proper naval combat game."

Because it was an Engineering Club training system, all registered ships were vessels currently or formerly owned by the Engineering Club. Even so, there were data entries for dozens of ships, giving the game more than enough content to stand on its own.

"So yeah, we’ve been developing and test-playing it within the club, but this place is so far from the central district that hardly anyone ever comes by. That’s why I wanted some outside opinions… figured I’d ask while you were here."

"I see… in that case, we’d be happy to."

"Heh, looks like it’s finally time for me to show off my god-tier controls!"

The Game Development Department specialized in retro games, and a naval strategy title packed with detailed 3D models lay somewhat outside their usual wheelhouse. Even so, if it had the word “game” attached to it, slacking off was not an option. The four of them readily agreed to take on the test play.

〔UZQueen: DD CRONAN — sunk — AI_03: BB TRANSCENDER〕
〔UZQueen: DD CRONAN — sunk — AI_08: CL ANTIGUA〕

Yuzu, who demonstrated unrivaled strength in player-versus-player matches, proved no exception in a naval combat game. After only a few battles, she had fully grasped the mechanics and optimal maneuvers, steadily piling up victories.

"That’s amazing, Yuzu! Sinking two ships at once with a single salvo! I can’t fall behind either—"

Watching this, Momoi—commanding an aircraft carrier—launched her bombers and torpedo planes, aiming to take down an enemy battleship in a single decisive strike. However, Midori noticed something amiss and spoke up.

"Big sis, torpedo planes are coming."

The very next moment after her warning, the ship Momoi was piloting—her attention fixed on the tactical map—took multiple torpedoes straight into its unguarded flank. The resulting explosion was spectacular.

〔AI_01: CV COMFORTABLE — sunk — Peach_Fighter: CV KINGS MOUNTAIN〕

"Why—!?"

"Momoi, it’s because you stuck all your fighters on the front line."

As Momoi could do nothing but watch her ship sink beneath the waves, Yuzu calmly offered some advice.

"But… the enemy carrier launched two fighter squadrons! We can’t win unless we send out three!"

"You don’t need to win. You just need to stall them. And besides, the Kings Mountain you were on has weak anti-air armament, so you need to keep at least one squadron back…"

Momoi was, to put it generously, not particularly strong in PvP—and it seemed naval combat games were no exception.

"Midori! Please launch torpedoes at that battleship!"

"Okay, got it."

While all this was happening, Alice and Midori worked together to sink the battleship. Even though their carrier had gone down, the overall situation remained in their favor. They proceeded to pick off the remaining AI-controlled ships one by one, and the battle ended in victory for the Game Development Department.

"Oh—wow, it’s already this late…"

They had completely lost track of time while immersed in the Engineering Club’s naval combat game. By the time they finished writing up their feedback and improvement suggestions for Seira, the sky outside had begun to glow orange with the setting sun.

"Shall you be heading back soon?"

"Yes, thank you very much."

"Can we come play again sometime?!"

At the Saiba sisters’ eager request, Seira replied with a warm smile.

"Of course. Thanks to you too—today was a big help!"

"T-then, we’ll be going now…"

"We’ll be looking forward to the hero party’s ship!"

Waving to Seira as she saw them off outside the building, the members of the Game Development Department left the Engineering Club behind and headed back toward Millennium’s central district.