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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part 3

She had just come towards the open door leading into the kitchen when she saw Sheffield burst out into the dining room in a hurry with a pot of tea in her hand.

But when Sheffield herself realized that she was on a collision course with Bel-chan, she dodged her at the last possible moment.

Seeing how Sheffield effortlessly managed to avoid even such a sudden crisis, Bel-chan, who was thinking about just how amazing that feat really was, let out a sigh of admiration out of her mouth.

「What are you doing?」

Asked Sheffield while looking at Bel-chan, her eyes covered with her bangs.

As for Sheffield herself, she had no intention of saying anything particularly blaming those words.

However, because of her usual impression that she was giving off to others, the way she said those words sounded like she was trying to condemn Bel-chan for not paying close enough attention to her surroundings.

「I-I’m really sorry…… Please forgive me, Sheffield-san.」

Acting in an unnecessarily bashful way, Bel-chan bowed down her head and trudged back into the kitchen in a hurry.

Not knowing why the little maid was acting so depressed, Sheffield twisted her neck to look after her, but in the end she left the dining room without saying anything at all.

In the kitchen, the maids were already preparing to do some post-meal clean up.

Breakfast time would soon be over.

As for Bel-chan, she simply went into the corner of the kitchen and she just stood there for a while, clearly at a loss for words.

When Belfast returned with a dustpan and a broomstick in hands, Bel-chan, who was still standing in the corner of the room, hurriedly corrected her posture.

「Bel-chan.」

Belfast said so quietly as she put away her cleaning tools back into the cleaning closet.

–––––– I knew it. The Head Maid surely must be angry about that plate that she happened to shatter just now……

Realizing that she was about to receive an earful from Belfast, Bel-chan mentally prepared herself for what was about to come. But she was not going to make any excuses here. It was clearly her fault for being too preoccupied with all that snow outside, so she was going to accept her punishment.

But even though she steeled her heart for the scolding of a lifetime, the seconds would pass by as she was waiting patiently, but no scolding would start coming her way.

「Did you perhaps think that I was going to get mad at you, Bel-chan?」

Belfast asked her that all of a sudden with a huge smile on her face.

She then slowly crouched down and gently stroked Bel-chan’s head and said the following:

「How about we call today your special day off? Hmm? What do you say to that, Bel-chan?」

「Huh……?」

For a moment out there Bel-chan was clearly in a daze.

「You seem to be really curious about the scenery just outside of the Dormitory, so how about we go there and check it out now, shall we?」

Belfast tilted her head and looked right at Bel-chan’s face, her smile still as radiant as ever.

「Edi is currently picking up a winter suit that is going to fit you just fine. It’s been a long time since we last saw that much snow accumulation overnight, so go out there and play to your heart’s content.」

「B-But still…… What about……」

「You don’t have to worry about work. Just please remember to be more careful next time…… Can you promise me that, Bel-chan?」

Having said that, Belfast’s smile became even more radiant than ever before.

Bel-chan thought about this for a little while, and then she looked Belfast straight in the eyes and said:

「Thank you very much for letting me do this…… Belfast-nee-sama.」

Just then, Edinburgh returned to the kitchen with a large zipper bag in her hands.

「Is this size going to be okay? I searched and searched everywhere, but I couldn’t possibly find anything smaller than this, unfortunately.」

When Edinburgh said that, she opened the zipper of the bag, and inside of it there was a red fur coat and trousers. All of them seemed to be suitable for snowy mountains and for activities such as skiing.

There was also a pair of thick fluffy gloves and boots that seemed to go up to about halfway up the shin.

Bel-chan immediately decided to try it on over her maid outfit.

「H-How it is?」

In terms of pure comfort and nothing else, those winter clothes felt to be a little bit too big.

Bel-chan then tried zipping her front all the way up, hiding the bottom half of her face underneath a puffy layer of warm clothing.

「Yes, it’s definitely too big ––––––」

Edinburgh nodded her head after giving Bel-chan a proper look-up.

「But at the same time, it seems like this is more than enough to let you move around quite comfortably. So isn’t that okay?」

Belfast said so and opened the back door leading outside of the kitchen and right into the open field of pure white.

「Wow……」

Bel-chan let out a sigh of excitement from her mouth, and then she watched it as it turned into a trail of hot mist that was carried into the distance.

When she opened the door, in front of her was pure white snow land that no one had stepped on yet.

Wearing her high boots and warm snowsuit, Bel-chan slowly tried to put her feet on the fresh and unobstructed whiteness.

Then, the snow became softer than she originally thought, and her feet started to sink deeper into it in no time.

As soon as her feet landed deep in the snow without feeling any opposition at all, she heard the sound of the snow being compacted under her weight and crunching.

「Uwah……!」

For some reason, doing that felt really good to Bel-chan at the current moment.

Bell-chan turned around to face Belfast and the others who were still in the kitchen.

「This is a small step for mankind, but a great leap for a maid……」

「I-Is that so? Is that how much you are excited to do this……?」

Edinburgh gave a vague smile when she saw Bel-chan, who was deeply moved by being able to play in the snow to her heart’s content for the entire day.

「Just try not to leave the dormitory’s premises too much, okay?」

Saying that, Belfast handed Bel-chan a scone wrapped in cloth and the jam in the small bottle as a form of something that she could later snack on.

「This is a form of a snack for you, but be sure to come back home when it will be time for a proper meal. Can you promise me that?」

Bel-chan’s cheeks blushed with excitement at that very moment.

「–––––– Yes, Nee-sama!」

She said so cheerfully, and stepped into her first silver-white world ever.

* * *

The road from the Royal Navy’s dormitory on the loft to the center of the Academy was originally a meter-wide downhill road with a gentle slope.

But for today, however, that road was completely buried under the huge pile of fresh snow.

And of course, there were no footprints on the loaf. None whatsoever.

As far as the eye can see, everything was covered with fresh snow.

Bel-chan didn’t hesitate to leave footprints on that road that no one had traveled yet.

Every time she stepped on the new path, the squeaky sound was so beautiful that it was almost addictive to listen to it.

「I feel like I’m the owner of this hill! It feels like I’m the very first one here!」

While Bel-chan was thinking of pushing more and more forward just like this, she then came to a sudden stop.

「This place right here…… If I go all out any further and fall down…… I wonder what would happen then?」

She already understood the softness of snow, so now she wanted to test it to its very limits.

The monster called curiosity once again attacked Bel-chan’s heart with all of its might.

「There we go!」

Holding her breath and diving face-first into the snow, Bel-chan let out a vigorous cry like that.

She sprawled out and her whole body was buried in the snow. Her face was so cool that it felt really good to be just like that.

「Fuwah!」

Raising her head and standing up, she shook her whole body and brushed the snow off of her face.

「It is…… so much fun!」

The pleasure of having her body wrapped in snow. There was a beautiful human-shaped hollow where she fell just now.

It is quite a work of art, if she was to say so herself.

「Let’s make one Mo ––Fuh!」

Next to the sprawled human-shaped depression, there was still a blank canvas of snow.