3 bar menu

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

「The flower bed……」

Kent could vaguely imagine the flower bed in the courtyard. The courtyard of the Royal Navy’s dormitory was so splendid that it was praised by other factions, and several sections of it were under the jurisdiction of the Maid Corps.

「…… I haven’t seen it for a long time, but I think it’s called the ‘Palace Garden’.」

As the name itself suggested, it was a gorgeous and splendid place like a court garden.

For some bizarre reason, the furnishings inside of the dormitory would always change according to the current season. And if Kent remembered correctly, the stone pavement road and the green arch, which were also used in the two-story special dormitory, were now also incorporated into the Royal Navy’s dormitory garden.

And while Kent was busy thinking about all that stuff, Belfast continued speaking, telling the gathered maids another important thing.

「In addition to that, the space that the Maid Corps is in charge of will be increased by another section starting from this year.」

Everyone murmured in unison upon hearing that.

The courtyard gardeners were not only the maids, but also the various “Shipgirls” who really liked gardening. And because of that simple fact, their skills and commitment to the task, one that they considered to be their hobby, was simply unparalleled.

The Royal Navy’s Dormitory continued to maintain its elegant and beautiful scenery thanks to the hard work of the shipgirls who had such a strong commitment to gardening duty. And in a sense, it could be said that it was that commonly taken care of the garden that reflected the spirit of the entire Royal Navy the best.

It goes without saying that managing yet another section of the flower bed in such a wonderful garden would be a difficult task to pull off.

「So, I’m thinking of asking someone to take care of the flower bed temporarily until the one responsible for taking care of it comes back from her commission.」

Amidst all the commotion that started all around them, Kent was the only one who seemed to be genuinely confused.

「Huh? What? What happened to everyone all of a sudden?」

Kent, who had next to no knowledge of gardening, had no idea how hard it was to manage even a single section of a garden of this size and esteem.

After all, It was a courtyard with so many people working there that it has been compared to the one of a Royal palace.

And considering just how magnificent and splendorous that place was, it was not all that hard to understand what Neptune wanted to serve as a solitary waitress during the Annual Tea Party that was being organized in that very courtyard.

「So, is there anyone who would like to volunteer to help?」

「Belfast-nee-sama, could you please wait a moment here?」

Right next to Belfast, the voice of a little girl could be heard.

「It would seem that the person in charge of the garden section in question also asked us to manage the garden trees for the next three blocks in addition to the aforementioned flower bed.」

Kent could not see her from the back seat where she was sitting because she was too small, but just by hearing that voice of the little girl Kent knew who it was right away.

The little girl in question was “Bel-chan”, a smaller version of Belfast the Head Maid. Just like every other shipgirl in this Home Port island, she was born from the Wisdom Cube, it would also seem that there were a whole lot of overly complicated circumstances surrounding her birth. That was the reason why she was so small in the first place.

And even though she was also referring to herself as “Belfast”, it would be really confusing for everyone around the dormitory to call her that, so in order for everyone to be able to distinguish her from Belfast the Head Maid, she was simply dubbed “Bel-chan”.

「We might be tasked with actually pruning some of those trees, so I think it would be too hard of a job for a single person to accurately manage on their own.」

When it comes to Bel-chan, she had something similar to a piece of paper in her hand at the current moment, presumably a note she got from the person in charge of the flower bed who was now away from the Home Port.

Belfast pondered that matter while she put her hand to her chin.

「Hmm, well, in that case, we will need two or even more volunteers to take care of the flower bed and its surroundings.」

「Then, in that case…… First of all, let’s see if we have at least two volunteers here, shall we?」

As soon as Edinburgh made such a proposal while standing right next to Belfast, she immediately called out to the maids that were sitting in front of her.

「Is there anyone here who wants to try their hand at gardening?」

But to that question, no one raised their hand.

It was only natural. Truth to be told, all of the Royal Maids were already quite busy as they were, so no one in their right mind would be willing to volunteer to increase their workload like that.

If so, the one to volunteer would have to be either someone who really likes their work or someone who usually had a whole lot of physical strength to spare.

And as for the latter part, there was only one person who fit that bill currently sitting in the kitchen.

「Hey, hey Suffolk.」

Kent poked at Suffolk’s cheek, who was still hard asleep. Even nudging at her with Kent’s elbow did not manage to wake her up.

「Munya, munya…… Hmmm……? What is it?」

「How about we do this thing together? You know, you said it yourself, right? That you like flowers and such, right?」

After hearing Suffolk’s words earlier, Kent had begun to take a slight interest in flowers and gardening herself.

Until now, she had always thought that this field had nothing to do with her in the least.

—— But if we are going to do it together with Suffolk, I would like to actually give it a try. It’s bound to be a little different from growing a plant in a pot, but I’m sure it’s similar enough for me to manage!

「Hey, come on! Let’s do this together, you and I! What do you say to that?」

While Kent’s eyes were positively sparkling with excitement, Suffolk answered her while still looking mostly half-asleep.

「Yeah…… the flowers…… let’s take care of them……Together……」

「Alright then! I am going to volunteer us right away!」

「…… Fumyuh.」

At that moment Suffolk’s neck dropped quite considerably.

At once Kent stood up vigorously and raised her hand high in the air.

「Yes, yes, yes~! Here, here, here~! Kent and Suffolk volunteer to do it!」

Seeing the unexpected candidates rise up like that, Edinburgh lifted her glasses a little bit on her nose.

「Um…… Are you sure that you want to do it, you two? Do you have any gardening experience at all?」

「No! Not even a little bit! I have never done it before, but we are both super curious about it, so we want to give it a try!」

Belfast interjected at that overly honest answer of Kent’s.

「I think it’s a very good thing to be motivated for your work like that.」

「Right? I knew that the Head Maid would understand.」

「However, since none of you seem to have any proper experience when it comes to gardening, I would like to ask at least one other person with sufficient experience to help you.」

「Belfast. If there was such a person among us here, I do believe that they would have already raised their hand as well.」

It was Sheffield who said something like that really bluntly to Belfast.

「Does that mean that everyone else is inexperienced when it comes to gardening, just like Kent and Suffolk are? I have only one other person in my mind who could teach the two of them the ropes of how to care about flowers and trees. The ‘shipgirl’ who is in charge of the same section of the garden, and should be very knowledgeable about gardening in general.」

「The one who is in charge of the same section of the garden…… Ah!」

Hearing Sheffield’s words, Belfast was taken aback for a moment.

「If we ask her to teach those two, I wonder if they are going to learn fast enough to be entrusted with the management of such an important task, even with no prior experience?」

「Huh? Who? Who are you guys even talking about?」

Sheffield gave a sideways glance to Kent, who did not know who the two of the maids were even talking about, and then she answered her: