CHAPTER 220: CHAPTER 156: THE PERFECT PLAN FOR THE SHIP_3

The plush toy that usually hung at his waist had vanished early in the morning—no idea where it’d run off to.

Not long after, Jason and the others woke up and started chatting in the living room.

Pororo came strolling back in from outside. As a fishman, he clearly felt more at home in the sea than indoors.

The villa’s guest room bed just didn’t do it for him—he couldn’t get used to it.

Julia, on the other hand, seemed completely fine. As long as she had Alka’s humidifier, she didn’t really care much.

Compared to fishmen like Pororo, the merfolk seemed a bit more human-like.

At that moment, Chadite also came down from the second floor, carrying the Lucilia plushie in her arms.

Seeing that everyone was here—

Alka clapped his hands and said, "Does anyone have any personal requests for the ship? Now’s your chance! I’m heading off to sign the contract in a little while."

At that, everyone’s interest was instantly piqued, and they all gathered around.

They listened as Alka gave them a quick rundown on yesterday’s escapades at the shipyard.

And of course, it was time for everyone to air their ship-wish list.

First up was Pororo, who spoke up casually: "I want a room where I can touch seawater, and a gym for training. If we can get a seawater tank, that’d be even better."

Hearing Pororo’s requests, Alka jotted them down without a care as to whether they were doable or not.

Their job was just to make suggestions.

Seeing that Pororo’s requests were already a bit outrageous, the others got bold too.

"I want a library, and it’d be best if we could grow plants inside—if we can get trees, that’s even better."

Lucilia clambered onto Alka’s shoulder, sitting there as she spoke.

Grow trees, huh? They’re really going for it now.

But Alka still wrote it all down. Why not? It’s just a wish list; they can walk it back later if needed.

"Then I want a mapping room. Mm... And a big bathhouse would be nice. Oh, and let’s tack on a sturdy treasure vault... That should do."

Hearing Chadite’s requests, Alka nodded—finally, something reasonable for once.

Jason racked his brain for ages before finally voicing his: "I want a shooting range to practice guns, a safe ammo storage, and a gun workshop."

"Then I want a karaoke room where I won’t be disturbing anyone, and I want my own room—half of which needs to have a water system I can fill with seawater whenever I want."

Alka wrote down everyone’s requests, not changing a single word.

Then he added his own demands at the end.

Extra spare rooms, double-layered cannon decks, full-auto loading and firing controls...

It has to automatically detect incoming attacks, activate the shield, and be able to dive while staying super sturdy.

...Oh, and a big cold storage room.

Plus a huge captain’s cabin—make it double as a conference room.

And then a mechanical workshop, built to the standards of both an Engraver and an Artifact Forger.

Finally, he threw in several more bizarre features for good measure.

Satisfied, he nodded as he looked over the completed wish list in his hands.

Chadite had been watching the whole thing with no end of curiosity.

When Alka finally finished writing, she couldn’t help but look up at him with a strange expression.

She thought—even Grandpa Hibroke, the patron saint of patience, might struggle not to wallop this guy.

"Seriously though, do you think these requests are actually possible?" Chadite finally couldn’t help asking.

"All we need to do is make the wish list. Which requests get done, which ones don’t, and which ones they’ll try to make work—that’s their problem, not ours."

Alka struck the classic attitude of a demanding client, absolutely righteous about it all.

With that, he took the list of wild wishes and headed off to the shipyard.

Led by a staff member, he arrived at Hibroke’s office.

Right now, Hibroke was busy making notes and sketches on a massive blueprint. Alka didn’t disturb him, just waited quietly off to the side.

He watched the designs on the blueprints.

They seemed to be improvements for the Music Ship—he could spot bits and pieces here and there.

Alka wasn’t impatient at all, just quietly observed from the sidelines.

After a good while, Hibroke finished whatever phase he was working on, nodded in satisfaction, and finally looked up at Alka.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Alka shook his head. "No worries. I’m learning just by watching!"

Hibroke smiled and nodded—a very polite young man, indeed.

Then Alka finally stepped forward and handed over his list of requests.

Hibroke accepted it with a grin, but as he went down the list, his smile slowly faded from beaming to polite, to frozen, and finally downright stiff.

Alka just stood by with his own polite smile, unwavering.

With a face still frozen in that smile, Hibroke looked up at Alka.

He decided to take back his previous impression—this kid was absolutely not polite.

"Grandpa Hibroke, do you think these requests are doable?" Alka immediately switched to a more intimate tone.

"What do you think?" Hibroke couldn’t help but fire back.

Alka nodded confidently. "Well, this is the world’s best shipyard, so I have full confidence!"

"Heh."

Hibroke could only shake his head in resignation. He grabbed Alka and started going through the requests, making compromises and giving suggestions for Alka to consider—seeing what could actually be agreed upon.

Even though the requests were pretty bonkers, just like Alka said, this was still one of the world’s top shipyards, after all.

With Hibroke’s feedback, sometimes Alka would nod in agreement, sometimes shake his head, and sometimes argue his own ideas back and forth.

The discussion went from noon, until sunset, and on into the evening.

At last, Hibroke slapped the table, breathing hard.

"Enough, that’s it! We’re done. No more requests from you!"

Seeing the old man across from him looking like he might actually suffocate from exasperation, Alka quickly kept his mouth shut.

He rushed over and patted the old man’s back, helping him catch his breath.

"Now sign this damned contract, and don’t come back for six months!"

Alka signed the contract with a grin and was promptly shooed out by the old man.

"Geez, don’t get so worked up! Still, I have to admit, the Church’s shipyard seriously lives up to its reputation."

After bickering for most of the day, pretty much all the demands had made it onto the plan. Alka even managed to slip in a few more extras.

Absolutely perfect.