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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 2 Chapter 1 Part 9

PART 9

The thief, who jumped lightly over Nelson and Rodney’s heads, spun in the air and made a stunning landing pose just like a physical athlete at the international competition.

And then, as if nothing had happened, the thieving maid continued to run away once more.

「W-What was that!? J-Just who is she!?」

「I can’t believe that someone would be able to jump this high in the air with such an ease!」

Belfast and others passed by the two still dumbstruck Nelson Class shipgirls while exchanging those words in a hurry.

「I’m really sorry, you two! I swear that we shall explain everything later to you!」

At the same time the thieving maid accelerated even more and went even deeper down the corridor.

On the other hand, the members of the Maid Corps were already showing signs of fatigue all over their faces.

「Haah, haah…… I can’t, so tired…… I think I’m going to drop on the spot……」

Belfast could hear the tired grief of Suffolk right behind her back. Edinburgh was also running at the very end of their group, and looked like she was unable to go any further. Because each one of them ran so far with all their might, it seemed like they were about to reach their limits sooner rather than later.

But even so, this whole charade was about to end, soon.

「Because this corridor is a dead end!」

As Belfast said, the whole group turned at the corner of the corridor and arrived at a shorter corridor that was ending with nothing but a solid wall. There was nowhere else for the thieving maid to go now.

However…… That didn’t mean that they could just let their guard down like that……

Judging from the sheer jumping and acrobatic abilities that the thieving maid demonstrated just a moment ago, it might be possible that she had some other hidden technique that she could use in the time of need. If they were to let their guard down thinking that they have already caught up with her and there was nothing she could do, it was quite possible that it would result in her making her escape once again.

–––––– If they were going to succeed here, they really needed to start thinking outside of the box.

Just when the Head Maid thought so, the thieving maid turned around on the spot.

「Everyone, please line up right behind me! We cannot let her escape from here, no matter what!」

After telling that to everyone, Belfast turned at the corner, going after the ghost maid.

Of course, everyone else followed suit and before long everyone arrived in the corridor that was a dead end.

And once they all did that, at that exact time,

「Huuuh……!?」

Edinburgh was the first one to open her mouth and speak up.

Because no matter how you would look at it, the thieving maid was nowhere to be seen.

There was only one maid uniform that was currently lying on the floor of the dead end corridor. And there was nothing else.

There was only one way in which someone could get out of that dead end corridor. But it was only a small window, so small that even someone as small as Bel-chan would have trouble squeezing her way through it in a hurry.

「The Ghost Maid……」

Belfast murmured those words involuntarily to herself.

This was truly starting to feel like the handiwork of a genuine ghost. Because this was a dead end, but even so the thieving maid disappeared without the trace, nowhere to be found.

Sheffield then picked up the maid uniform that had fallen on the floor right next to Belfast, who was still quite stunned after what they had seen here.

「This uniform…… it certainly belongs to the Maid Corps.」

「So…… So is this true!? Is there really a ghost at large in here!?」

As Belfast watched Edinburgh start trembling in fear and then going into a genuine panic attack on the spot, she shook her head in a firm denial.

If their thieving maid was really a ghost, then there would be no need for her to get rid of her maid uniform as she was making a run for it. She would have just slipped through the wall with the uniform still on her.

So there was no doubt about it in Belfast’s mind. Their thieving maid was a normal living being, made out of flesh and blood.

So the possibility was huge here that the maid’s uniform was just a form of disguise here. Either that, or……

「That appearance…… That was……」

Belfast remembered the thieving maid and the things that she was able to catch a glimpse of back in the kitchen, next to the cooking table.

It was a glimpse of a pale and sickly face, looking as though it was ready to collapse at any moment if you would simply let it.

At that moment a thought occurred in Belfast’s mind. That she has seen that face somewhere in some book in the past.

After digging through her memory for a little bit, Belfast finally came up with the name of that strange face.

It looked exactly like……

「Scarecrow……」

After being able to realize that, all that Belfast could do was to gaze in silence at the maid uniform that was left on the floor like that.

* * *

「…… So in the end, we did not manage to get any closer to solving the case. Sheffy, are you sure you don’t know anything more?」

Back at the kitchen, Belfast decided to ask Sheffield about the Ghost Maid once more.

「Yes. I have told you everything that I know of, but even so, much of it is only my own guesses and assumptions. Sorry about that.」

So in other words, Shieffied really did not know anything about the Ghost Maid at all. It was just a front that she happened to come up with on the spot in order to let the Ghost Maid’s guard down and get closer to it.

「As for me, I am not all that familiar with the matters of the occult myself, either.」

And if none of the maids gathered here knew anything about the subject at hand, then there was really nothing that could be done about it on their own.

But in the end, since no one in here happened to know anything about the Ghost Maid, that would mean that the case of the stolen candy would really come to a standstill.

「–––––– I-Its face. It was……」

Then, a trembling voice could be heard right from behind their backs.

「Pale…… It was frighteningly pale…… ><」

Looking behind them, Fortune looked to be so scared that she was about to cry on the spot, her face all pale with fear.

「God damn it…… I didn't know that our candy thief would turn out to be so creepy and out of this world…… Scary, so scary……!」

Looking at Foxhound right next to Fortune, she was also so scared that she could only tremble in fear, unable to move. It was really something, seeing someone who was usually so lively and energetic to be afraid like that. The two of them were hugging each other and their shoulders were trembling so much that it looked like they would fall off at any moment now.

She really messed up. This whole situation was a direct result of her wrong decision, and Belfast was only starting to realize that now. And now they had to stick with the consequences of that bad decision.

Actually, just a little while ago, the Head Maid thought it would be better to tell everyone currently present the information that she happened to see, but then they have become so preoccupied with the thieving maid that she never managed to do just that.

But this was bad. Very, very bad. As a result of her failure, Belfast's remarks only managed to instill fear in the hearts of the people gathered in the kitchen.

「S-Say, Bel? I-I-I, I also t-t-t-think that we are…… b-b-biting more than we can c-c-chew here……」

Looking to the side, Belfast could see that Edinburgh was also scared out of her mind, tears welling up inside of her eyes.

But it was not Edinburgh alone. The other maids that were present in the kitchen were all frightened and seemed unable to do their jobs properly anymore.

「To think that we would be dealing with ghosts of all times of the year……! Not to mention the one with such great motor skills at that! I-I don’t think that anyone would be able to move like that…… even if they tried……!」

This was the primary example of what it means to wage a psychological warfare on your enemy.

At the current moment, many of the maids have become aware of the presence of the Ghost Maid and were really afraid of it.

And even though it was the middle of the day, some of the kids were even afraid to go to the toilet on their own, without having someone to assist them all the way.