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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 1 Chapter 2 Part 4

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Translator: Kurehashi Aiko

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PART 4

 

[Say, say! Does that mean we are also going to have a practical lesson for today? Like, actual combat situations and stuff like that!? Is that why we are here!?]

 

The last person to speak up here was the fourth ship of the Shiratsuyu Class, the Destroyer Yuudachi, coming from the Sakura Empire faction. Looking at her figure, all restless and fidgeting in her chair, clearly looking for any opportunity to get out of the classroom, Ranger gave her a wry smile in response.

 

[When it comes to combat exercises…… I’m afraid that’s not going to happen today. We are going to focus purely on theoretical learning for today.]

 

[Huh!? What the hell! That’s so lame! That’s not funny at all! Not even a bit!]

 

Seeing Yuudachi puff out her cheeks in dissatisfaction like that, Belfast took Hood’s words to heart and decided to act on them.

 

—— “I’ve heard that all of the students this time around are quite talented, but I think it’ll be fine as long as you keep your spirits up”.

 

[I’m really starting to wonder if “talented” is really the right word to use here……]

 

Belfast, who was finally beginning to understand the meaning, of Hood’s was already worried about whether she would be able to do a good job as the substitute lecturer or not. Because it would seem that she would have her work quite literally cut out for her.

 

* * *

 

After all the students had taken their seats, the class was finally ready to begin in earnest.

 

The first one to give her lecture was Ranger. As for the other lecturers, Belfast and the rest all moved to the back of the classroom from where they would quietly observe how the lesson would go, and possibly learn something as well from Ranger’s example.

 

[Alright then, I will be the one to start with the first lesson of this special course. Everyone, it’s a pleasure to be working with you. I hope that you will treat me kindly.]

 

When Ranger bowed down her head to the students, all of them responded in kind with a polite slight nod.

 

All of the seats were arranged in a single row in this classroom, and from the side of the door leading into the hallway the order of seats was as follows: Javelin, Cygnet, York, and Yuudachi.

 

Ranger then started by having a close look at each of the students’ faces.

 

[Well then, maybe I shall start by asking you all a question first?]

 

While standing at the top of the podium, Ranger then fixed her eyes on the person who was sitting on the far left.

 

[Huh? Umm, who? Me?]

 

And it just so happened that the one sitting in that particular position was none other than Javelin herself.

 

It seems that she never would have thought, even in her worst nightmares, that she would be the first one to be asked a question like that.

 

She jolted up as if electrocuted, and looked around, pointing a finger at herself in a display of apparent confusion.

 

[If you appoint me for something like that so suddenly, I just can’t really help it but to feel all nervous all of a sudden~.]

 

[Fufu, relax, relax. It’s not going to be anything all that hard, I swear.]

 

Javelin then took several deep breaths, and on top of it all Ranger made sure to calm her down by assuring her that the question would not be all that difficult to answer.

 

[Now then. I’ve done a lot of supply acquisition and escorting the transport ships as commission during my service time. And while carrying out those commissions, what do you think that the most important thing that you need to consider at all times is? Can you think about it for a moment? The most important thing?]

 

[The most important thing…… What do I think it is, huh……?]

 

Javelin immediately wrinkled her brows and cocked her head as she started to ponder the question that she was given.

 

[It’s okay to take your time with that question. I want you to think about it really long and really carefully. And once you have done so, I want you to tell Ranger-sensei what your thoughts are, okay?]

 

With her hand on her chin and striking a small pose to underline the importance of her words, Ranger grinned warmly as she awaited Javelin’s answer patiently.

 

[Umm…… I mean…… This is…… Uhh……?]

 

Javelin then put both of her index fingers on her left and right temples, as if she was trying to stimulate her brain to think harder about the question that she was given, and while she thought and pondered that matter seriously, she even started to groan slightly.

 

And then she closed her eyes shut really tightly.

 

And as if all of the above was not enough to give her brain a boost she so desperately needed, she started to press down on her temples even harder.

 

After a few minutes of continuous brain stimulation, pondering and growling like that……

 

[Alright! I’ve got it!]

 

Javelin opened her eyes and looked up happily.

 

[This has to be the correct answer! I’m sure of it!]

 

Javelin stood up from her seat and puffed up her chest proudly. Judging from that reaction alone, she must have been really confident in the answer that she managed to arrive at.

 

Javelin took a deep breath and then she opened her mouth wide.

 

The answer she was ready to give was ––––––

 

[Don’t forget your lunchbox! Never-ever!]

 

And it just so happened that the answer she so proudly delivered was so off-the-mark that it was actually amazing how she actually managed to come up with something like this and sound so serious about it.

 

Actually, the shock of hearing that kind of answer being delivered with such confidence was more than enough to cause Ranger’s finger to slip off of her chin and just hang down her body like that.

 

[How about that!? Did I do it!? Did I hit the bulls-eye?]

 

While Javelin was so busy being proud of herself that her eyes were all sparkling and twinkling like that, Ranger somehow managed to regain her composure and address the elephant in the room with a wry smile on her face.

 

[Well, unfortunately, that’s not it! It’s quite off the mark, actually! So far that it could not be farther! No, truth to be told, I never would have even expected it to be this off the mark.]

 

Ranger then cleared her throat in an awkward way in order to regain her lost composure.

 

[The correct answer is this: what I thought as the most important thing during all of those commissions was the ability to make appropriate decisions according to the situation at hand. If you have this ability on your side and you can use it while maintaining a clear and leveled head, then you should be able to avoid the worst crisis at any given time and emerge victorious from even the most dangerous situations.]

 

[But if we talk about something like that, then how exactly do we even hope to train an ability like that?]

 

Hearing Yuudachi’s question, Ranger took down the bag that was still hanging on her shoulder all this time, as if she was waiting for this exact moment, or for that exact question to be asked.

 

What she then pulled out from the inside of that bag was a flip-projector, and the thing that could be seen on the very first slide of it was the picture of a small blue car driving down a narrow road and a bicycle running on the other side of the road in front of that car.

 

Looking closely at this illustration, it was a small yellow bird-like creature that was driving the car and riding the bicycle.

 

That small yellow creature was called “Manjuu”, and was a creature that usually would do all sorts of miscellaneous chores all around the Home Port island. Besides, the way in which it was driving and riding in that picture looked really awkward for some reason, not to mention the fact that the bicycle manjuu seemed to be working for a soba delivery restaurant, judging by a huge number of bowls it was holding in one of its small hands. And it also looked as if it was about to fall over after losing its balance.

 

[This particular class is going to be all about what is called “Risk Prediction”. It is actually the same kind of subject that you would find during your driver license exam.]

 

Ranger says so and points towards the blue car drawn on the flip and asks the four Destroyers that were present in the classroom the following question:

 

[At the current moment, the speed of this blue car is about forty kilometers per hour. The sign says that this road has a five kilometers per hour speed limit. Now, I think you can easily predict various dangers that can be posed to both the car and the bicycle just by looking at the picture alone. What possible dangers can you imagine just by looking at it?]

 

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