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

Sirius said, “Yes, that’s right”” as she put her hand down and let out a small sigh.

「What is a Meowoficer in the first place?」

She uttered such a fundamental question right now.

「No way…… I did not think that I would start from explaining something so basic……」

Hood couldn’t help but smile wryly upon realizing that fact, but apparently Sirius wasn’t the only one who did not know about Meowofficers at all. Because more than one person around had a completely blank expression on their faces the entire time this conversation was going on.

「You mean to tell me that we really have shipgirls around here who do not know even the slightest bit about that subject?」

To the question of the truly surprised Hood, Belfast could only quietly bow her head down.

「Because of our usual maid duties, none of the shipgirls from the Maid Squad stops by the center of the Academy all that often, I’m afraid……」

Seeing the situation that she was dealing with here, Hood had no other choice but to start explaining the subject at hand from scratch.

「Do you happen to remember when Akashi-san brought you a whole lot of cardboard boxes? If my memory serves me correctly, I think that some of you even helped her in carrying them here.」

Hearing Hood’s words, some of them maids smacked their open hands with their first slightly, while others let out a short “Ah!” from their mouths. It seems that now they were remembering what was going on.

As a matter of fact, Sheffield, who was standing still right next to Bel-chan, was also one of the people who carried those cardboard boxes into the dormitory.

She even vaguely happened to remember that time. She felt that those cardboard boxes were unusually heavy and that they were colored near their bottoms. As for those colors, there were three kinds: light blue, purple, and gold.

「You see, inside of those boxes, there are cat-like creatures, just a little bit smaller than the size of the actual box. And those creatures are called Meowofficers.」

At the same time Hood used both of her hands to indicate the size of the Meowofficers that she was talking about.

But seeing that Hood’s explanation might have been a little bit too general and that she was trying to explain things as fast as possible here, Belfast felt the need to actually open her mouth as well and provide the necessary supplement to that explanation.

「You see, Meowofficers are creatures that are said to bring good luck and safety to sailors, and they also possess mysterious powers to bestow various abilities to those that they are being assigned to.」

「Bring good luck and safety…… Hmm, I see.」

Hearing Belfast’s spot-on explanation, Bel-chan nodded her head as if she was able to understand the entire subject because of that.

「But still, we have never even met those Meowofficers in person. What kind of children are they, anyways?」

When Belfast asked that, Hood gulped heavily, as if she was afraid that this question might pop up sooner or later here.

「…… Well, I can’t really blame you guys for not ever seeing them in person, as the other factions are reportedly having quite a bit of a hard time dealing with them on their ends. As to why that is in the first place, Meowofficers are fashioned after cats, so they seem to be really proud creatures and they refuse to listen to just about anyone who wants them to help them out.」

「Are they equipped with weapons of some sorts? Is that why they are difficult to deal with? Because they can assault you in return?」

When Bel-chan asked that question out loud, Hood’s face brightened up for a moment, as if she just so happened to remember something important.

「Oh yes, that’s right! Which reminds me! I do have a reference picture with me right here.」

She then took out a small picture from the breast pocket of her uniform, and both Sheffield and Bel-chan peered right into it.

At that moment, Bel-chan raised her face with a loud voice filled with excitement.

「This one…… I think that I have seen it before!」

Saying that, Bel-chan pointed her finger at the Meowofficer in the picture, which was a small round cat-like creature that was wearing a small hat on top of its head. If you were to look closely at the picture, there was another Meowofficer right next to the first one that looked just like it, or maybe had a slight difference to its appearance.

「Personally, I don’t really know the difference between the two, if you were to ask me.」

Sheffield said so blatantly, and Bel-chan only shook her head.

「That’s not true. This one has a long beard and this one has a curled tail!」

「By the way, the one that Bel-chan is talking about is Hugles, and the one next to him is Rose.」

Hood nodded her head with approval upon hearing Bel-chan’s words.

「… So you were the one who showed me the way back home when I saved the little birdie back then.」

Bel-chan whispered those words as she stared at the Bugles visible in the photo.

Then Bel-chan clenched her fists with a firm determination, and she spoke forcefully to both Hood and Belfast.

「I would like to go and thank that Meowofficer for helping me out at that time!」

At that time, it was the middle of winter day, so Bel-chan thought that the creature that helped her out was a regular cat, but now she was able to see that it was actually not the case here.

Even so, it seems that both Belfast and Hood felt the same way as Bel-chan, and they looked at each other in apparent confusion.

After a moment of silence in between the two of them, Belfast finally spoke up,

「If Bell-chan wants to do it, it is my duty as the Head Maid to respect the wishes of my direct subordinates.」

「Yes, I know that. However, the problem is that we still don’t know how much we can deal with the Meowofficers in question, you see.」

With that said, Hood took out another photo, showing a little girl sandwiched between two Meowofficers, a photo that was completely different when it comes to the cat-like creatures from the previous ones.

「This here humanoid cat’s name is Lime. She might look different from the rest of her brethren, but she is also a Meowofficer.」

The Meowofficer in question had fluffy purple hair, and quite a volume of it to boot. She was also wearing a small saber that was hanging down from the belt at her waist.

To be honest, she seemed to be so domineerigh that you could hardly even see the other Meowofficer in the picture.

「I heard that every faction was having a whole lot of trouble with this particular humanoid Meowofficer, so as much as I would like to just leave that matter to you and call it a day, I really don’t want Bel-chan to go there and meet it alone ——— 」

「——If you are worried about Bel-chan going alone, I will go with her and assist her.」

While Hood was still in the middle of speaking, Sheffield raised her hand and spoke up.

「…… Because cleaning is my specialty.」

As soon as she said that last part, even though it somehow changed the meaning of her words, Bel-chan’s face got all teared up.

「Thank you so much, Sheffield-san.」

「I did nothing that would make you obliged to thank me like that, so you don’t really have to do that.」

Even when Sheffield would answer curtly like that, Bel-chan’s face was still showing that beaming smile that would not go away no matter what.

Seeing the two of them like that, Belfast looked at Hood, who on the other hand looked kind of relieved to see that particular development.

「If it is going to be Sheffi who is going to accompany you, then I’m really relieved to hear that. I think she will be able to not only clean properly, but also deal with Meowofficers’ troublesome behavior, if there will be any.」

Hearing Belfast’s words, Hood also nodded her head in agreement.

「Yes, I think so, too. Well, in that case, we shall leave the cleaning of the Cat Lodge to the two of you.」

In this way, both Sheffield and Bel-chan were delegated to the duty of cleaning the Cat Lodge where the Meowofficers were located.

* * *

From that day onwards, the two of them decided to go to pay the Cat Lodge a visit. At Hood’s suggestion, it was decided that they should just meet face-to-face first, in order to get the Meowofficers to know them.

After completing their errands around the dormitory, Sheffield went out through the entrance of the Royal Navy’s dormitory.