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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 1 Chapter 2 Part 12

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Translator: Kurehashi Aiko

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PART 12

 

Yuudachi clenched both of her hands into fists as she offered those words of encouragement with both hands and offered words of encouragement.

 

[You should run pretty vigorously, cling to it with all of your might, and climb up quickly before the pole starts to turn straight up! After that, the Pole will move toward the opposite bank of the pool, so do your best to just let go at the right time!]

 

[Yuudachi-chan, don’t you think your last piece of advice is a little bit negligent?]

 

[Is the next person ready or not!?]

 

Enterprise’s voice rang out through the loudspeaker, and Javelin reluctantly cut off the conversation with Yuudachi and stared at the mud pool for a good while.

 

But inside of her mind, she could still see quite vividly the two people who just so happened to land straight into the mud pool not too long ago.

 

[W-Whoooooooooaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh~~~!!!!!!!!!]

 

With her eyes tightly closed as if she wanted to disperse her negative thoughts that way, Javelin ran towards the pole at full speed without stopping.

 

She then clung to the pole in a fairly fast run-up and would not let go.

 

[And there…… There we go!]

 

Shouting like that, Javelin scrambled up before she would stand upright. As a base for her movement, it was going better than anyone else so far.

 

[S-she’s doing it! She’s climbing up!]

 

The moment the pole stood upright, Javelin was still doing brilliantly. And just like that, she also managed to reach the very peak of her climb.

 

[I, I did it! D-Did you see that, Commander!? I really did it!]

 

In a burst of joy, Javelin made a slight victory pose without even thinking about it, but it was from here on out that her problems started to pop up one after another.

 

There was no problem with the place where the pole was clinging to the direction of the opposite bank of the pool. So the rest was simply whether or not Javelin would be able to land well.

 

[Hyih!? Hyiiiiiiiiihhhhhhhhh!!!???]

 

Javelin screamed in an uncontrollable way as the pole started to fall way faster than she would have expected.

 

That should have been true, and the distance from the edge of the pole to the ground after climbing up was almost the same as jumping off the second floor of a tall building.

 

[T-This is impossible!]

 

Javelin sensed that she was already at her limit, and suddenly let go of the pole with both of her hands as she fell to the opposite bank of the mud pool.

 

–––––– SPLOOOSH!!!

 

[And just like that, Javelin is covered in mud from head to toe as well!]

 

As Javelin slowly made her way out of the mud pool while being completely covered in it, Enterprise casually reported her failure like that through her loudspeaker.

 

With that voice being heard through the loudspeaker and treating it as a signal to go, Yuudachi took a few steps back and then she started to run as fast as she could.

 

[Everyone, it’s such a shame that you were unable to succeed here! But rest assured! I shall definitely learn from your mistakes and make sure that I will nail this sucker in one fell swoop!]

 

As Yuudachi yelled those words she ran straight towards the mud pool faster than any other student before her.

 

Just before she kicked the sand under her feet really hard, she took a big jump and clung to the pole with all of the strength that her small body could muster.

 

She then tried to climb up as quickly and possible and stand up as fast as possible.

 

However, because she jumped into the pole with too much force behind her movements, she fell from an upright position to the opposite bank at twice the speed she had when poor Javelin clung to her attempt a moment ago.

 

[W-Waaah!!! Too early! It was too early~~~!!!!!!]

 

—— SPLOOSH!!!

 

[And just like that, everyone has been sunk.]

 

Enterprise said so without any clear emotion behind her words, and then lowered her gaze towards the mud pool.

 

There, she could see all of her students covered in mud from head to toe, looking so tragic that it was actually hard to look at them right now.

 

[Right before we started doing this, you asked what the point of this exercise was supposed to be, isn’t that right?]

 

Enterprise, who has turned away from the loudspeaker, looked at her students who looked as though they would much like to be anywhere else but here at the current moment.

 

[In my honest opinion, the most important thing on the battlefield to have is, without a shred of a doubt, ‘an indomitable fighting spirit and a strong heart that never gives up at any time”! Yes, that is the most important!]

 

And then Enterprise saw Yuudachi, who was still stuck in the mud head-first, looking like a spear or a javelin that was thrown into the ground.

 

[Oh, and next time around, do try to not land head-first into the mud like that. It can be potentially dangerous, you know? And damage control is extremely important when fighting at sea! You understand that? So get back up, on the double! Be sure to do a better job next time!]

 

[P-Please wait just a moment!]

 

Javelin, who had been submerged up to her shoulders in the mud pool still, panicked at what enterprise had just said.

 

She then raised her voice slightly.

 

[Umm, I hope that it was just Javelin’s imagination here, but Enterprise-san, did you just say “next time”?]

 

[Well, of course, that is exactly what I said. I mean, isn’t that obvious? This lecture will continue until everyone jumps across the pool safely. Is there something wrong with that?]

 

Enterprise answered with a blunt look on her face, and then the faces of the four Destroyers as well as the lecturers turned visibly pale all of a sudden.

* * *

—— As Belfast stood in front of the podium looking back on the events that transpired all the way from last night until today, the students who had just returned from the shower room entered the classroom.

 

[Everyone, thank you all for coming so swiftly, although I know that you must be tired.]

 

Seeing the four students who had just returned, Belfast smiled at them gently.

 

A faint scent of shampoo wafted from the four girls who were covered in mud until just a moment ago, but now it was all gone, as if was never there in the first place.

 

[Ahh, umm…… I-Is it really okay for us to wear this?]

 

Cygnet asked that question while grabbing the edge of her skirt and looked at Belfast with a worried expression, tears in the corners of her eyes.

 

[Of course it is quite alright. After all, we have spare maid outfits in different sizes for that kind of emergencies, just in case.]

 

True to her words, all of the girls who came back from the showers were dressed in maid clothes. Even if the mud on their bodies could be removed easily, there was nothing they could do about their dirty clothes, so Belfast had specially prepared clothes for them instead.

 

[And I must say, everyone! You look really lovely wearing those!]

 

While Belfast was looking at the four girls in their maid outfits with a look of pure adoration, the other three instructors also returned from the outside.

 

Both Ranger and Niimi were helping Enterprise clean up after the class that took place at the beach, while Belfast was instructed to go back to the classroom first and prepare for the next class.

 

[Ranger-san.]

 

Seeing Ranger, Belfast approached her in a hurry, having one more matter that needed to be taken care off post-haste.

 

[Umm, you see, about those seats that were supposed to be reserved in the navy cafeteria ––––––]

 

But before Belfast managed to finish her sentence, Ranger shook her head in a hurry with a sad look on her face.

 

It seems that the seats that Belfast managed to reserve in advance were all gone because the Enterprise lecture has gone for just way too long. At the same time as confirming that in advance, Belfast asked Ranger if there was anything at all that could have been done about it.

 

[Uwaaah! That’s it! I can’t! I can’t even move another inch anymore!]

 

Yuudachi groaned while throwing her whole body weight on top of her desk and basically freezing up in that exact position, not moving even an inch anymore. Normally she was the one who would be the most enthusiastic and hyper-active in this whole group, but the exhaustion from the previous lessons combined with not getting food for lunch has left her completely devoid of energy.

 

As if that complaint was also a signal of some sort, the stomach of all four Destroyers present in the classroom started growling out loud at the exact same time.

 

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