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Crossover Shipgirls: Building a Dimensional Empire from Scratch

Chapter 286 - 286: A Poor Horse Relies on Training, a Rich Horse Relies on Technology · Nov 03, 2026

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Chapter List (704)

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251 Chapter 251 - 251: Ainz: I Report—They’re Cheating 2026-11-03
252 Chapter 252 - 252: Without Mourning Cocytus for a Moment, the Immediate Response Is... 2026-11-03
253 Chapter 253 - 253: In the Name of the Commander, I Shall Annihilate You All 2026-11-03
254 Chapter 254 - 254: Even Whales Can’t Beat Hackers 2026-11-03
255 Chapter 255 - 255: At This Rate, Nazarick Will Go Bankrupt 2026-11-03
256 Chapter 256 - 256: Sorry for Not Letting the Commander Enjoy Himself 2026-11-03
257 Chapter 257 - 257: Bone King Was Blasted to Bone Ash 2026-11-03
258 Chapter 258 - 258: I’m Here to Conquer the World, Not to Breed 2026-11-03
259 Chapter 259 - 259: You Can Only Be the Commander’s Personal Maid 2026-11-03
260 Chapter 260 - 260: Great Victory! The Whole World is the Spoils of War! 2026-11-03
261 Chapter 261 - 261: Unlocked the World-Creation Authority of the Overlord World 2026-11-03
262 Chapter 262 - 262: Return and the New Maid Team 2026-11-03
263 Chapter 263 - 263: Today, This Commander Will Personally Subdue a Succubus 2026-11-03
264 Chapter 264 - 264: A Song Faster Than Light, Dedicated to All Primitive Civilizations 2026-11-03
265 Chapter 265 - 265: Another Year Competing Among the Stars! 2026-11-03
266 Chapter 266 - 266: Five New Neighbors, A Third-World Shipgirl?! 2026-11-03
267 Chapter 267 - 267: My Wife Who’s Waited Tens of Millions of Years!!! 2026-11-03
268 Chapter 268 - 268: My Wife Can’t Possibly Be a Crisis 2026-11-03
269 Chapter 269 - 269: Little Grey Lands a Critical Hit on Saratoga 2026-11-03
270 Chapter 270 - 270: Oi, Come With Me to Snatch the Northern Princess 2026-11-03
271 Chapter 271 - 271: Don’t Bully the Native Shipgirls! 2026-11-03
272 Chapter 272 - 272: The Commander Arrives at His Loyal Naval Base 2026-11-03
273 Chapter 273 - 273: Oh No, a Max-Level Shipgirl Returned to the Newbie Zone to Farm! 2026-11-03
274 Chapter 274 - 274: Northern-chan’s Gonna Punch You 2026-11-03
275 Chapter 275 - 275: I’m Taking You Back to Feed the Siren Girls 2026-11-03
276 Chapter 276 - 276: Please, My Otherworld Self 2026-11-03
277 Chapter 277 - 277: Taking Office in Goose City (Naval Base)! 2026-11-03
278 Chapter 278 - 278: Cuddling Every World’s Shipgirl! 2026-11-03
279 Chapter 279 - 279: Return—The Great Encounter Between Sirens and Abyssals 2026-11-03
280 Chapter 280 - 280: The Commander’s Out of Strength—Push Him! 2026-11-03
281 Chapter 281 - 281: You Catch Me—If You Do, I’ll Let You Hehehe 2026-11-03
282 Chapter 282 - 282: How Many Pairs of Black Stockings Does the Commander Go Through Daily? 2026-11-03
283 Chapter 283 - 283: That Siren Made the Commander Kneel... 2026-11-03
284 Chapter 284 - 284: Let’s Get Some Uma Musume to Ride 2026-11-03
285 Chapter 285 - 285: All the Horse Girls Here Belong to Me! 2026-11-03
286 Chapter 286 - 286: A Poor Horse Relies on Training, a Rich Horse Relies on Technology 2026-11-03
287 Chapter 287 - 287: Special Week, Supersonic Sharp-Angle Maneuver! 2026-11-03
288 Chapter 288 - 288: Shipgirl, Dragon Girl, Catgirl, Horse Girl Olympics? 2026-11-03
289 Chapter 289 - 289: Slack in Class, Horse Girls Deliver Packages 2026-11-03
290 Chapter 290 - 290: Stop Partying, Come Save Humanity! 2026-11-03
291 Chapter 291 - 291: Chaldea Pirates and Cthulhu Shipgirls 2026-11-03
292 Chapter 292 - 292: Whose Starship Uses Tentacles to Hit People?! 2026-11-03
293 Chapter 293 - 293: Present the Demon Pillar to Me 2026-11-03
294 Chapter 294 - 294: Return, and Lily Is the Cutest in the World! 2026-11-03
295 Chapter 295 - 295: Cherish the Girl Who Goes on a Gundam Date with You 2026-11-03
296 Chapter 296 - 296: The Allspark-Powered Battleship and the Anti-Humanity Noble Phantasm 2026-11-03
297 Chapter 297 - 297: Trial Voyage, and the Fallen Star 2026-11-03
298 Chapter 298 - 298: It Was Illustrious Who Blinded My Eyes! 2026-11-03
299 Chapter 299 - 299: The Giant Steps into the Children’s Playground 2026-11-03
300 Chapter 300 - 300: You Are All Insects 2026-11-03

”Huh?!”

”Um... who are you?!”

Special Week was startled by Setsuna. He seemed to know her very well and even casually said some astonishing things.

”Mm, in simple terms, I’m a Commander—but I can also be your Horse Girl trainer.”

”I’m inviting you to become my racing Horse Girl.”

Setsuna directly extended the invitation to Special Week.

In the Uma Musume world, every trainer would have a few Horse Girls under their care, forming a small team.

You can’t go wrong starting with the protagonist—he quite liked this lively and adorable mare.

”Eh?! So you’re a trainer?!”

Special Week sized Setsuna up.

Without a trainer, her own training really was like a headless chicken.

She very much wanted an experienced trainer to guide her.

It was just… for some reason, the man in front of her didn’t seem at all like the trainers she’d imagined.

She cast a pleading look at Yayoi Akikawa nearby.

The chairwoman nodded, confirming Setsuna’s identity as a trainer.

—Explaining the concept of aliens to a Horse Girl again would be too much trouble. It was easier to present him in a way she could understand.

”Oh—! A new trainer!”

The Horse Girls eating nearby put down their utensils and began whispering.

”He’s kinda handsome... though I’ve never seen him on TV before. I wonder which Horse Girls he’s trained...”

”Handsome is good enough! If he’s guiding my training, anything’s fine!”

”No way!! We’re chasing the dream of being a racing Horse Girl! You understand dreams, right?!”

”I just want to be an idol... could he be my manager instead?!”

The arrival of any new trainer was a big deal at Tracen Academy.

Most Horse Girls were curious about the newcomer, and a few were already swooning.

”...”

”Will you join me?”

Seeing Special Week daze off, Setsuna patted her shoulder and repeated the invitation.

”Um... which Horse Girls are in your team?”

Special Week tilted her head up to ask.

”Right now, just you. Later on... probably a lot more.”

Setsuna answered honestly.

”So you’re a rookie trainer, huh...”

Special Week was a little disappointed.

After a moment’s thought, she nodded anyway.

”Well, I only just joined the academy myself. The famous trainers wouldn’t look twice at me... having someone willing to guide me is already nice.”

With a try-and-see attitude, Special Week agreed to Setsuna’s offer and bowed.

”Special Week, from Hokkaido.”

”My goal is to become Japan’s number one Horse Girl. Trainer, please take care of me!”

...

Burp—

Setsuna and the Shipgirls patiently waited for Special Week to finish her lunch.

During that time, they drew plenty of attention from the academy’s Horse Girls, with quite a few coming over to chat.

The shipgirls and dragon girls weren’t impressed with the cafeteria’s offerings.

Aside from rice, it was mostly carrots and assorted vegetables and fruits—not a scrap of meat in sight.

—The Horse Girls’ diet was almost identical to that of real horses.

Only Special Week looked perfectly content.

To celebrate gaining a new trainer, she even ordered a few extra carrots as a treat for herself.

Once she’d eaten her fill, Yayoi Akikawa helped her complete the necessary paperwork and assisted in signing the contract.

It was now official: Setsuna was her trainer.

The chairwoman was eager to see what methods these otherworld visitors might use in training Horse Girls.

If they could truly cultivate a Horse Girl whose abilities far exceeded the academy’s expectations, she’d gladly entrust the academy to Setsuna—without him ever having to resort to force.

In her view, supporting Horse Girls came first.

”Trainer, are we going to start training now?”

”Long-distance running, hill sprints, or endurance drills?”

Special Week asked eagerly.

”The academy grounds are huge—I’m ready for anything.” She hopped in place, showing off the graceful lines of a Horse Girl’s physique.

Slender without being frail, well-proportioned, and—by human standards—athletic. Paired with her cute looks, she radiated a fresh, vibrant charm.

”No, that kind of training is too primitive.”

”We’re going to use methods worthy of the interstellar age.”

”???”

Whoosh—

A shuttle stopped in front of them.

Special Week followed Setsuna and the others nervously onto the ship, eventually arriving aboard the hull of the Aurora.

Her eyes kept darting toward the dragon girls and shipgirls.

These girls were beautiful, clearly not human, but they didn’t have Horse Girl traits either—it was puzzling.

”Um, Trainer, where are we?”

”Arethusa-class light cruiser—Aurora.”

”???”

”Aren’t you a trainer? Trainers have ships?”

”Just teasing you. I’m actually the Emperor of the Starsea Empire and Commander of Azur Lane.”

”???”

”What’s the Starsea Empire?!”

”A civilization from another world.”

”Huh???”

The more she asked, the more questions piled up in her head.

She’d spent her whole life on land, running and munching carrots, with little exposure to human technology.

A spaceship was overwhelming for a little Horse Girl.

Her small eyes brimmed with big, big questions.

”Am I being kidnapped?!”

She thought of urban legends about criminals abducting Horse Girls to demand ransom.

But then she reasoned—if that were the case, they’d go for Silence Suzuka, Symboli Rudolf, or other star racers. Why would they bother with a rookie who hadn’t even run her debut race?

Still bewildered, she followed Setsuna into the Aurora’s interior.

After winding through corridors, they arrived at what looked like a biological laboratory.

Sumire Muroto was already waiting with several Angeloids and science lolis.

The room was lined with cryo-pods, vital sign monitors, surgical tables, and other rather intimidating equipment.

”Yo? Here already?”

”So this is a Horse Girl? She’s as cute as a catgirl...”

Sumire swiveled lazily in her chair, speaking in a languid tone.

She still wore her lab coat, with dark circles under her eyes—a telltale sign of too little sleep.

As head of the Life Sciences Division, it was only natural she’d be on the front line when it came to studying such an unusual species.

”Eek?!”

”Y-you’re not going to... to... cut me up for research, are you?!”

Special Week was nearly in tears.

”What are you thinking?”

”Aren’t you about to run your debut race? Regular training is too much trouble—so we’ll give you a little tech boost to enhance your physical abilities.”

Setsuna patted her head.

He’d decided to win the race in the Horse Girl’s own way. For these adorable girls, there was no need for force.

Put simply, he wanted to be every Horse Girl’s trainer.

”Eh? I won’t use banned substances! I want to win fair and square with my own strength!”

Special Week misunderstood, refusing with righteous indignation.

”...We don’t do anything that tasteless, thanks.”

Setsuna flicked her forehead.

”Genetic ascension uses technological means to permanently enhance and unlock a lifeform’s physical potential. It’s fundamentally different from doping.”

”All our science and combat personnel have undergone genetic enhancement—rest assured.”

”If you still think it’s not enough, we could have Tohru add a magic buff... hmm, how about a flight spell?”

...

Under the arrangements of Sumire Muroto and the Angeloids, Special Week nervously sat inside the cryo-pod.

She clutched Setsuna’s sleeve, her ears twitching, eyes brimming with tears.

”Trainer, I’m entrusting myself to you... sob sob—”

”There really won’t be any problems, right...?”

Even though they hadn’t known each other long, Special Week already felt a strange dependence on the man who had become her trainer.

His words carried a weight that made her instinctively want to obey.

Looking at the majestic starship, the shipgirls, the Angeloids, and the scientists around her, she could faintly sense that Setsuna was someone extraordinary.

But a Horse Girl wasn’t built to understand complicated matters.

She truly only wanted to run.

For her, becoming Japan’s number one Horse Girl was the most important thing in the world.

”Relax. We’ll give you a full-body checkup, then design a custom genetic enhancement plan.”

Sumire Muroto yawned.

”If something this simple could go wrong, I might as well quit being head of the Life Sciences Division.”

”Oh...”

The Horse Girl only half-understood.

In this unfamiliar environment, the only thing that gave her any sense of security was the man who had just become her trainer.

Getting Setsuna’s reassurance, she finally lay down inside.

Clack—

The pod door closed, and white mist filled the interior.

The anesthetic gas gradually relaxed Special Week until she drifted off into a deep sleep.

On the nearby display, a precise full-body holographic scan of the Horse Girl appeared.

A 3D projection of her body floated in the air, accompanied by data for height, weight, body fat percentage, and countless other parameters.

”Height: 158 cm, measurements: 79-57-81, weight...”

”Mm, a Horse Girl’s physical capabilities are indeed stronger than a human’s. They’re naturally gifted runners.”

Sumire read the instrument’s data, analyzing the Horse Girl from an academic perspective.

”I’m curious—since Horse Girls here appear randomly at birth, what would the offspring of a human and a Horse Girl be?”

”Commander, interested in trying? I think this could be a very valuable research subject.”

”???”

Setsuna was stunned by Sumire’s dead-serious question.

”What are you trying to say?!”

”Ahem, just a biologist’s instinct. In horse breeding, to preserve and improve bloodlines, you pair with the highest-quality specimens.”

Sumire cleared her throat.

”Theoretically, your genes are top-tier, Commander—perfect for pairing with other Horse Girls.”

”The resulting offspring would have a very high probability of surpassing all others—a super Horse Girl...”

Thump thump thump—

Richelieu, Belfast, Aurora, and the other shipgirls banged the table in protest.

”What are you taking the Commander for?! A stud horse?!”

”We haven’t even had little Shipgirls with him yet, and you’re already talking about little Horse Girls?!”

”...”

Setsuna felt the road ahead was truly long and winding.

Have little shipgirls with shipgirls, have little Horse Girls with Horse Girls...

If he wasn’t careful, even Heroic Spirits might decide to produce yuri forms...

Just thinking about it made his back ache.

”Let’s focus on the task at hand.”

He cleared his throat, steering the conversation back.

”A Horse Girl’s love for running is a kind of genetic instinct. Their intelligence and strength aren’t remarkable—certainly not on par with genetically enhanced children.”

Sumire continued scanning the detailed data.

”Moreover, such high-intensity activity carries great risks for them.”

”The skeletal and muscular limits of both humans and horses aren’t that strong—it’s easy for accidents to happen.”

Setsuna nodded.

Horse racing often came with its share of mishaps.

Once a racehorse suffers a catastrophic injury like a compound fracture, at best they’ll never race again—at worst, they’re euthanized.

—Silence Suzuka remains one of the greatest regrets for many racehorse fans.

Horse Girls also get injured in races. While they don’t face the final step of euthanasia, long recoveries and extended absences from the track are common.

”So, we need to strengthen her body in every way. Horse Girl genetic load capacity is similar to humans—about 15–20 units.”

A familiar interface appeared before Setsuna.

The superpower factor enhancement system—derived from protozoans—offered rabbit-type, cat-type, owl-type, dolphin-type, and other models.

Each type granted specific enhancements, allowing selective boosts to strength, speed, reflexes, and more.

”For a Horse Girl... based on their racial traits, we should focus on physical enhancements.”

Sumire Muroto and the science lolis tapped at the display, selecting several enhancement modules.

”Give her the strongest, best superpower factor modifications—all tuned for running performance.”

Setsuna gave the order.

Vmmm—

The machine hummed.

Mechanical arms injected Special Week with several targeted genetic serums.

From the outside, she didn’t change much.

But on the vital sign monitors, data related to bone and muscle strength steadily climbed.

Genetic enhancement was an old, perfected science for the Starsea Empire.

About a day later—

The mist inside the cryo-pod dissipated.

Special Week slowly opened her eyes, seeing Setsuna and the concerned shipgirls.

”Awake? The procedure went great—you’re now a cute girl.”

A science loli teased her.

”Eh???”

Special Week cried out, then suddenly remembered something.

”Wait, I was already a Horse Girl!”

”Come on, let’s see your new abilities.”

Setsuna pulled her up.

She hopped in place and stretched.

It felt like she had boundless energy.

She instinctively prepared to run—and—

Whoosh—

Her legs moved before her brain caught up.

Before she could fully process it, she shot forward like a bullet, leaving afterimages in her wake.

”Eh eh eh eh?!”

”Why am I running so fast?!”

Hearing the wind roar in her ears, she almost scared herself.

”I can’t stop! I can’t stop!—”

Bang!!—

She slammed squarely into the bulkhead on the other side of the ship.

Fortunately, her enhanced body was tough enough to handle it. Rubbing her head, she shook it off and looked at Setsuna.

”Trainer, what happened? I... I’m so fast! Faster than my brain can keep up!”

She was still confused.

”We reinforced you at the genetic level. Simply put, all your points went into strength and speed.”

”From now on, you’ll be the world’s number one Horse Girl—no one will match your speed.”

Setsuna patted her shoulder.

”Eh?”

The Horse Girl wagged her tail and scratched her ear.

The effect of the genetic enhancement was undeniable—she could feel the transformative power in her body.

After a moment’s thought, she asked seriously:

”It’s amazing, but relying on outside help feels strange. I still want to improve myself through hard training... Trainer, if I don’t want to use this power, can I turn it off?”

”Huh?”

Sumire and the science lolis blinked. This was the first time they’d heard such a question.

By all rights, this was something to be thrilled about.

”Why?”

”Because I think strength earned step-by-step through my own effort is what really matters.”

She lifted her head to answer.

”...”

Setsuna was taken aback.

”You’re adorable.”

He couldn’t help pinching her cheek and nodding.

”The superpower factor enhancement is reversible. If you want, you can have it undone.”

Most people who suddenly gained unimaginable abilities would eagerly accept them.