21st Century Necromancer

Ultimately, the British Government traded The Belfast for Chen Yu's promise to help them transform the HMS Victory into a ship-girl.

Although it meant losing face, gaining a true demigod not bound by a lifespan was a real bargain for the British Government. After all, lost pride can be forgotten, but tangible benefits signify a profit.

Moreover, even though Hood's appearance caused quite a stir, she was, no matter how you look at it, a British ship. As long as the media didn't spread rumors and the truth was well concealed, the lost pride might even be recoverable.

Chen Yu had no interest in the British plans. After handing over The Belfast to the United Kingdom, he returned to his Necromantic Space with Artoria, Joan of Arc, and the others in tow.

As for how the British would arrange the newly summoned Victory, that was no longer Chen Yu's concern. After being summoned, she broke through the demigod's limits due to the immense accumulation of faith over centuries and obtained the Divine Position of the British Guardian God.

This was Chen Yu's first time witnessing the birth process of a deity. The experience gained during this period was extremely valuable to him, as firsthand experiences and insights far surpassed what could be learned from textual records.

Nonetheless, Chen Yu found this new British Guardian God, quite interesting. Originally, he had planned to subtly control her through the summoning ritual. But once she became a deity, his control naturally ceased to exist, leaving only her favorable impression of him as her creator and commander.

After docking The Belfast at a berth in the port, Chen Yu did not rush to conduct the summoning. Instead, he settled Artoria and Joan of Arc along with their company first.

Fortunately, the expansion of the Necromantic Space had just been completed, and there was plenty of room. With the housekeeper's arrangement, Artoria and her knights quickly settled into the guest rooms.

Joan of Arc and Gilles de Rais, however, had a further discussion with Chen Yu about their desire for revenge against the church before being led to their designated guest rooms by the Ghost Maid.

"I'm sorry, Commander, I didn't expect things to turn out this way, causing such trouble. I'm truly sorry for the inconvenience caused by my thoughtlessness today," Hood said, apologizing to Chen Yu back in Minato Ward, feeling guilty for the serious consequences of her impulsive actions and wanting to make amends, "If possible, I would like to make up for my mistake."

Chen Yu wasn't particularly concerned by Hood's apology. After all, despite the significant trouble caused, he hadn't suffered any loss. He merely felt a bit regretful for not having seized HMS Victory from the British as well.

But he knew that if he didn't let Hood do something, the traditional British lady would feel uncomfortable. So, after a moment's thought, he asked, "Hood, you've been in Europe for quite some time. How many of your former companions have you retrieved, not counting Belfast?"

This was also one of the tasks Chen Yu had sent the ship-girls to do. Now that Hood had caused such a commotion in London, Chen Yu hoped her answer wouldn't be limited to just The Belfast.

Facing Chen Yu's inquiry, Hood gave a slight sigh of relief and summoned several boxes she had kept within her hull, placing them in front of Chen Yu.

"In fact, this time I have gained quite a lot." Hood opened the box in front of her and explained to Chen Yu, "During the age of sail, the Royal Navy would hire sculptors and artists to design an exquisite figurehead for every warship upon its completion. However, these beautiful wood carvings were easily damaged at sea and were expensive to maintain and preserve. As a result, with the gradual replacement of sails and wood by steel and steam engines, figureheads were also gradually phased out.

The captains of the various warships would design their own ship's badges out of pocket or directly adopt their family crest as the emblem. However, due to the lack of unified guidance and standards, this practice was quite chaotic. Moreover, when a captain left their post, they would take the emblem with them, resulting in a ship often having many different badges."

While Hood was speaking, she had already opened the first box, which contained an aged golden badge with a crown on it, surrounded by a circle of golden laurel decorations, with a muzzle-loading cannon from the era of sailing warships carved in the middle.

Chen Yu noticed a nameplate under the crown that read "WARSPITE."

"This is Warspite's ship's badge, not the one painted on the main deck," said Hood, lifting the badge out of the box. The badge was quite large, and even Hood needed both hands to hold it steadily.

While showing Warspite's ship's badge, Hood continued her explanation, "In 1918, Charles Fox, the curator of the Royal Armament Museum, accepted a commission from the Naval Department to design a ship's badge template for all the ships of the Royal Navy. This enabled each warship of the Royal Navy to have its own badge.

The badge also became a symbol of each warship and was widely printed on anything related to the ship. Normally, if a captain had the funds, they would make a large one to hang in their own captain's cabin. Later on, this became a standard issue for the Royal Navy, and this one is Warspite's."

"You brought this back in the hopes that it would summon Warspite, didn't you?" Chen Yu looked at Hood, having guessed her thoughts, "Whose are the other ones?"

"Ark Royal, Prince of Wales, King George V, Glory, Renown, Javelin, Courageous, York, Exeter..." Hood placed Warspite's ship's badge back in the box and opened all the other boxes, counting out each name that had left a glorious mark in the history of World War II, "Of course, there's also our dear missus—Warspite."

"You're really unreserved, isn't this like robbing the naval museum?" Chen Yu shook his head as he looked at the dozen or so ship's badges in front of him, listening to the names that were almost recognizable, "But since you've brought them back, let's prepare for the summoning.

These badges are better than the steel plate with the ship's name that Enterprise left behind, at least the power of faith condensed on them is enough to serve as the medium for summoning. Once the others bring back their companions, we'll summon them all together."

Hearing what Chen Yu said, Hood was overjoyed and quickly expressed her gratitude, "Thank you, Commander!"

Hood gave Chen Yu a curtsey as she spoke, her heart filled with gratitude. She had only hoped to summon a few companions through the ship's badges, but Chen Yu had directly agreed to summon all of them back, greatly exceeding Hood's expectations, and she was utterly delighted.