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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 1 Chapter 1 Part 4

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Translator: Kurehashi Aiko

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PART 4

 

「It would seem that yesterday the two of you had quite a bit of fun during your little excursion, Your Majesty, and it didn’t stop you from bringing it along.」

 

「That’s because the soup is broth-based, and it’s getting warmer and warmer outside. Besides, Bel, surely you understand that sometimes one just feels the need to ditch eating inside, just so that one could enjoy the fine weather and warm sun some more, don’t you? You should also try doing it more often!」

 

「It is exactly as you say, Your Majesty.」

 

Elizabeth flashed Belfast her teeth and smiles broadly in a mischievous way. Belfast also loosened her mouth a little bit and smiled slightly, as a reaction to such an innocent behavior that had no qualms whatsoever. During times like these, she could allow herself to let loose ever so slightly and laugh like any normal person would do if they were in her shoes.

 

When the two left Elizabeth’s room and started to walk down towards the dining room, Elizabeth started to fan her face with her hand the moment the first rays of the morning sun brushed against her figure.

 

「I know it’s still technically morning, but you can say that today is going to be yet another ridiculously warm day.」

 

While listening to Her Majesty talking like that about no subject in particular, Belfast and Elizabeth returned to the dining room, where they could see Edinburgh finishing arranging the breakfast for everyone and about to return with the serving cart back to the kitchen.

 

「Edi.」

 

Having her name spoken up in such a sudden and familiar manner, Edinburgh looked back in a hurry only to see both Belfast and Elizabeth approaching her. Then, when the three came together, Elizabeth turned towards her maids and spoke to them with her voice implying that at the current moment Her Majesty was finding herself to be in quite a good mood.

 

「And Bel, you listen up as well. For today’s afternoon tea party, I want both of you to prepare us some finest cream tea.」

 

A tea party, just as its name might suggest, was a party where you would enjoy a delicious tea and some snacks with a group of esteemed guests, usually held outside when the weather was right for the occasion.

 

One would think that when it comes to that kind of parties that they would be especially restrictive when it comes to the members participating, but when it comes to the tea parties organized by the Royal Navy, anyone could participate if they wanted to, and there was no particular restriction as to the maximum number of guests.

 

The purpose of those tea parties? It is for everyone involved to have a good time together while getting to know each other better while eating some tasty treats and taste the delicious tea.

 

And when it comes to cream tea, one always has to think of a black tea and scones that come with it as a sort of set, especially since Elisabeth loved to eat her scones with a whole lot of cream inside of them, all the while sipping on sweet black tea with even more cream inside of it.

 

「Just like that, I will be able to enjoy some crispy and freshly baked scones with a whole lots of cream together with my guests! Fufu, oh, I’m already looking forward to it quite a lot!」

 

Mumbling that to herself while in really high spirits, Elizabeth leaves the two maids behind while skipping happily towards the dining room where Warspite was already sitting behind one of the tables.

 

Belfast bowed her head towards Her Majesty and then returned to her duties as a maid, taking care that the breakfast would go without issue and that every girl in the dormitory would get to eat a warm meal in peace.

 

Then, Belfast and Edinburgh could finally eat their own breakfast after everyone else was already done and left the cafeteria.

 

* * *

 

It can be said that the true work of a maid of the Royal Navy’s Maid Corps starts right after the breakfast is all done. Everything else before it is just a preface.

 

「–––––– Everyone, without any further ado, let’s get started.」

 

The moment that Belfast, the Head Maid of the Royal Maids Corps, stated that in a formal and serious tone, the rest of the maids would bow down their heads in affirmation and then they would all go towards their designated locations, in order to complete their designated tasks.

 

「Huu! Today, this here Kent will continue to give it her absolute best at work!」

 

Said one of the members of the Maids Corps, the County Class, Kent Subclass Destroyer named Kent, while dashing forward with both vigor and enthusiasm.

 

「Kent-chan, you are going way too fast~. How about you try to walk a little bit slower for a change~……」

 

While swaying her pink hair and huge chest, the fifth ship of the County Class, Kent Subclass, Suffolk, chased after Kent, who had already gone so far ahead down the corridor that she looked like a small bean grain. Right behind her, there was Sheffield, a Town Class, Southampton Subclass Light Cruiser snarling visibly as she walked forward.

 

「Well then, Bel. I have to go this way for now.」

 

After parting from Edinburgh at the intersection of the staircase, Edinburgh went towards the second floor of the dormitory while Belfast went towards the first floor.

 

Since Elizabeth announced that they would have a tea party in the afternoon on the spot like that, this meant that the usual amount of work that would be done in the afternoon had to be completed in the morning, effectively doubling the usual workload.

 

「It seems that today is going to be yet another busy day.」

 

Belfast said to herself as he climbed down the flight of stairs.

 

The first order of business was the maintenance and inspection of equipment used by the girls living in the Royal Navy’s dormitory.

 

There was a whole lot of different kinds of rigging and artillery that was littering the dormitory’s warehouse, and that included the rigging of the girls who were currently going to their lessons, as well as the older shipgrils who were on active duty. However, the Maid Corps would usually perform a minimum amount of maintenance on all of the equipment, since it was also the role of whoever was using it to make sure that it was always going to be in top condition, in case of emergency sortie.

 

After that, there was an important task of exchanging the bedsheets in the rooms of all the shipgirls that were living in the dormitory.

 

One of the most important duties of the members of the Maid Corps was to keep the dormitory nice and clean, and that included taking the dirty bedsheets for laundry, cleaning them, and in the meantime replacing them with the fresh bedsheets that were washed yesterday and properly dried and aired out. After replacing a large amount of old sheets, Belfast took them to the washing room and placed them inside of a large bathtub that she then filled with water and a whole bottle of cleaning agent.

 

Once all of the dirty bedsheets were wrapped in the foamy and bubbly cleaning agent, Belfast started to clean and scrub them by the hand. After she was done with that task, she went right to the next task on her list, which was making the necessary preparations for lunch.

 

「Haaa~hnn! Busy, busy, so busy~!」

 

As soon as Suffolk was done with her own cleaning duties, she was roaming inside of the kitchen as well, making sure that all of the necessary preparations for lunch would have been ready right on time. Seeing Suffolk being so busy, Belfast placed her hand on the maids arm to calm her down a bit, and then she opened the lid that was under the stove in order to properly adjust the heat that was raging inside of it.

 

「Let me help you with that, Bel.」

 

「My sincerest apologies for the trouble.」

 

When Edinburgh returned to the kitchen after swiping the outside of the dormitory clean, the cooking and preparations for lunch proceeded at even faster pace.

 

It was one of the iron rules in the Royal Navy’s dormitory that whenever the breakfast would consist of a course that was called a Full English Breakfast, the following meal would not be anything that was too heavy or hard on the stomach to digest. That is why, the lunch menu for today would consist only of fish and chips.

 

It was at that moment that the dormitory’s clock tower would ring its bell to announce that the time was now noon, and at the same time, the preparations for lunch for everyone would also be completed. And it happened to be right on time, for just when the maids’ race against time was completed, they could hear the voices of the shipgirls gathering for lunch inside of the cafeteria.

 

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