In the game, the witch August affectionately referred to the commander as her "familiar."
"Familiar, do you know? I've been searching for you for so long... so long..."
"Your appearance has changed a lot, and your voice too, but you are still you. I recognized you at first glance."
Lin Lan listened to August's tearful confession, finding it hard to believe that the proud and elegant August from the game could be crying like this, her face wet with tears.
"Are you really my August?" Lin Lan still couldn't believe it, fearing that there was some huge misunderstanding.
Ever since he came to this world, no one had ever told him he would encounter such a powerful shipgirl.
"There's no mistake, no mistake at all. You are my familiar and the first person I saw when I opened my eyes in this world."
August pulled away from Lin Lan's chest but kept her arms around his waist.
They stood there, so close, looking into each other's eyes.
August's face still bore traces of tears, her pale cheeks tinged with a blush, and her tear-filled grayish-purple eyes filled with endless tenderness.
It was then that Lin Lan noticed a crystal-clear ring pendant hidden behind the Iron Cross medal on August's neck.
Gathering his courage, Lin Lan reached out with a trembling hand, gently brushing aside her grayish-purple hair to hold the ring.
"Familiar, you haven't forgotten that day, have you?"
Instead of being upset by Lin Lan's bold action, August slowly began to tell the story behind the ring.
"That day, you were drunk. When you returned to the port, you were mumbling something about 'white stockings witch maid being the best,' and without a word, you took me to the chapel."
"You suddenly made a vow with me."
"Back then, I had just finished a part-time shift at the new Ironblood café, and I had just returned to my dorm, still in my maid outfit, ready to rest."
"Now that I think about it, what was it about you that attracted me? What kind of wicked magic did you use to make me fall in love with you so completely?"
Even though her words were full of complaints, as she spoke, August's tears once again began to fall in large, uncontrollable drops.
Lin Lan, who had been examining the ring, froze as he listened to August's recollection, feeling as if he had been struck by lightning.
The vow was an option in the game where, after reaching a high level of affection with a shipgirl, players could spend money to marry them, often referred to by players as "giving the ring."
Shipgirls' affection levels could be raised through regular missions and setting them as the secretary ship.
After the vow, not only would the shipgirl's abilities receive a slight boost, but it would also unlock special vow-related dialogue, and some shipgirls would even get a free wedding dress illustration.
Lin Lan clearly remembered giving August a ring during an in-game event where Ironblood and the Royal Navy competed by opening cafés.
During that event, August had a new white-stocking maid outfit available for purchase.
(August Von Parseval)
(August Maid Skin)
The transformation of the proud and elegant witch into a shy maid who addressed you as "Master" in every sentence caused many players to have nosebleeds.
As a dedicated player, Lin Lan had instantly spent money on the outfit as soon as it was released without a second thought.
Not buying it would have felt like a betrayal of his conscience.
As for the vow with August, it was a moment that Lin Lan remembered vividly, though he himself found it hard to believe.
One night, after being dragged to a company party and drinking heavily, he completely blacked out and was sent home.
When he woke up, he found his phone still open to the game, and August, whom he hadn't had time to marry yet, was already wearing the ring.
When he shared this in the game chat, his friends jokingly said that August had used her mind-control powers to forcefully marry him, as she had a skill in the game that allowed her to control the minds of enemies.
This was why Lin Lan had such a strong memory of the event and always reminded himself of the dangers of drinking whenever he saw August.
Now that August had recounted the event, Lin Lan was 100% certain that this was undoubtedly his August—his and his alone.
Seeing the witch August in front of him, sobbing uncontrollably and heart-wrenchingly, Lin Lan found a sudden surge of courage and pulled her into his embrace.
Yes, hugging his own married shipgirl like this was definitely not a problem.
To think that such a powerful and confident noble aircraft carrier would break down like this upon seeing him, Lin Lan couldn't imagine how much despair and longing she had endured while searching for him.
After all, every research ship required a player to invest a lot of time and effort to accumulate research points before they could be built and brought into the world.
The first person these shipgirls saw when they opened their eyes was their commander.
It could be said that the commander was everything to them, the very reason for their existence.
Remembering the vow he had made with no memory of it, Lin Lan felt a deep sense of guilt towards the soft, grayish-purple-haired witch in his arms.
The only thing he could do at this moment was to offer her this long-overdue embrace to make up for his shortcomings.
"August, I'm sorry. It seems I've been away from you all for a very long time."
"This time, I won't disappear again."
As Lin Lan spoke, he realized that his voice had also taken on a tearful tone.
After spending an entire year at the Crimson Maple Naval Academy in this unfamiliar world, constantly forced into endless escape and humiliation by the consortium, he had been pushed to the brink of collapse.
As a transmigrant, he had felt like a rootless person drifting in a strange world.
But now, he had finally found someone familiar, someone he could rely on.
He had never seen the characters in the game as mere data.
In his heart, he had always treated every shipgirl in the game as a living being.
Even though he knew full well that they were just products created by a game company, meant to be enjoyed by the players.
But as a gamer, shouldn't he love the characters who had accompanied him through countless hours of gameplay?
"I won't leave you all again either. I... promise."
Lin Lan spoke with a determined voice, tightly holding the warm body in his arms.
The witch in his embrace gently hugged him back once again.
The two of them stayed like that, holding each other close, as if time had frozen in that moment, making it eternal.
The beautiful moment was interrupted by a soft cough from outside the captain's cabin.
"August, August, you still haven't discussed the payment with the person in charge of this passenger ship…"
A white-haired woman from Ironblood, holding an Ironblood flag, walked to the doorway of the captain's cabin.
She arrived just in time to see Lin Lan and August blushing as they reluctantly let go of each other.
Lin Lan froze as he saw her.
This was someone even more important!
The Northern Queen… No, it was the battleship Tirpitz, the second ship of the Bismarck-class battleships!
(Tirpitz)
Lin Lan watched as the flag dropped to the ground and the Northern Queen, Tirpitz, covered her mouth in shock. Suddenly, he remembered something crucial.
As a player focused on power and ranking, he had... apparently, more or less... given a ring to every shipgirl he could remember who had reached full affection.
This didn't even include the numerous research ships that were both powerful and beautiful.
Tirpitz, as one of the super-rare Ironblood battleships available during the game's early events, was a cold, proud goddess with white hair who made many players who loved white-haired mature women ecstatic.
At that time, Ironblood only had three major ships: Bismarck, Tirpitz, and the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin.
Due to the name of her skill and her historical background, Tirpitz was dubbed the "Lonely Northern Queen" by players.
She had been with him through almost his entire gaming journey as a crucial ship.
Naturally, Lin Lan had married Tirpitz early on.
However, as the game continued to update and new shipgirls joined the port, with their increasing strength, the early shipgirls were gradually pushed to secondary and even tertiary fleets, eventually becoming "warehouse keepers."
As an early shipgirl, Tirpitz couldn't escape this fate either, quickly becoming a warehouse keeper after reaching max level, rarely having the chance to see action again.
Moreover, due to being implemented so early in the game, Tirpitz's artwork, along with her sister Bismarck, the Ironblood flagship, never received the mighty dragon ship riggings that later Ironblood ships were known for.
Especially her sister Bismarck, as the Ironblood flagship, was constantly mocked by players for not having her own impressive dragon ship rigging.
"Bismarck, as the flagship of Ironblood, your dragon ship rigging must be really cool, right?"
But Tirpitz herself, due to her declining power ranking, went from being the "Lonely Northern Queen" to gradually being known among players as the "Lonely Northern Shut-In."
Later, this nickname was shortened to two words that became iconic and widely spread, originating from another shipgirl game: "Northern Shut-In."
This slightly mocking nickname perfectly captured Tirpitz's status in the later stages of the game.
But many players still found the nickname "Northern Shut-In" quite endearing. The idea of a once-proud mature woman becoming a shut-in had a certain charming contrast to it.
Giving shipgirls nicknames or alternate titles was a tradition that players in the community had to master.
As it happened, before Lin Lan crossed over, he was an avid internet user, a level 16 water monster who spent years surfing forums… and a long-time Dragon King in several large gaming QQ groups with over a thousand members.