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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 3 Chapter 3 Part 5

「If those creatures have the same habits as cats, making eye contact with them can be interpreted as a sign of open hostility.」

「I see, I understand, Sheffield-san.」

Just as she was told just now, Bel-chan tried to look in the Meowofficer’s general direction without really looking into its eyes.

「Let’s try to treat it with a slightly more polite attitude. Maybe it will be considered that we are trying to be friends with no hostile intentions.」

「……But weren’t you the one who was reaching for your holster with some clearly hostile intentions just a moment ago, Sheffield-san?」

After saying that, Sheffield approached the sofa on her own and bowed down her head politely in order to greet Lime, who was sitting in front of her at eye level.

「It is nice to meet you. My name is Sheffield, and starting from today, my friend and I will be in charge of cleaning this room.」

「Likewise Meowfficer-san. My name is Belfast and starting from today, I will be in charge of cleaning this room alongside Sheffield-san.」

Lyme did not say anything to that introduction, it just smiled in a suspicious way.

If you were to look closely, she had a plate and fork in her hands, and she looked very happy for some reason, as if she had just eaten a cake while it still had a beautiful trail of cream all around its mouth.

「Ah!」

Bel-chan suddenly raised her voice really loud.

「You! You are that Meowofficer from that time!」

Sheffield turned her gaze to where Bel-chan was looking, and there was a white Meowofficer sitting there, right next to Lime, looking at Bel-chan in surprise and moving its mouth wildly.

「So, is this that one Meowofficer that you have met before, Bel-chan? If I remember correctly…… Its name is supposed to be Bugles, right?」

When Sheffield asked her about that, Bel-chan nodded her head repeatedly while her cheeks brightened considerably.

「Yes, that’s right. It was that little one who showed me the way back to the dormitory on that snowy day!」

Once again, she bowed her head in front of Bugles over and over again.

「Thank you very much for your help at that time, Meowofficer-san! I am forever in your debt for that!」

Bugles blushed heavily, seemingly embarrassed for being praised and shown gratitude like that.

Then, for some reason, Lime suddenly stood in front of Bugles, and the plate and fork she had been holding in her hands until just now seemed to be forced into Rose’s small hands.

「Huh……?」

Lime snorted aggressively at Bel-chan, who was bewildered by that sudden attitude change.

Lime put her hand on her waist near that saber that was dangling from her belt, and she was puffing out her chest in a cute way. But still, Bel-chan was clearly at a loss for whatever she was supposed to do in this unexpected situation.

「Perhaps she wants people to pay attention to her exclusively? Maybe she got jealous that you were praising Bugles so much?」

It was at that moment when Sheffield pointed that out that Lime became even more boastful than before.

She also snorted her nose every once in a while. It would seem that Sheffield managed to hit the proverbial nail to the head.

「Ahahaha……」

Bel-chan could only smile wryly in response to that.

But apparently that reaction of theirs was not something that Lime must have expected.

Because all of a sudden, she jumped off of the sofa, and for some reason she suddenly began to scatter the contents of a nearby tissue box all over the floor as if throwing some sort of a temper tantrum.

「Aaahh! W-What’s wrong!? What happened!?」

Bel-chan wondered what was wrong with her to start acting up like that with seemingly no reason at all.

Reluctantly, Sheffield stood up and approached Lime instead of the small maid.

And without a moment’s delay, Sheffield grabbed the Meowofficer by the arm, which was continuing to tear out the tissues from inside of the box without stopping even for a moment.

「Please stop it right this instant.」

When Sheffield scolded Lime like that, she puffed out her cheeks in apparent dissatisfaction.

But even so, Sheffield did not back away, looking down at the rowdy Meowofficer with a stern look on her face.

「Unfortunately, as long as I am here, I won;t let you treat the potential cleaning utensils poorly. You will start to behave, whether you like it or not.」

After Sheffield told the Meowofficer that, one could almost see the sparks that were fluttering in between their eyes.

In that explosive atmosphere, the surrounding became flustered and covered their mouths and eyes in sheer terror.

「Sheffield-san, you said that we should not provoke her and try a more peaceful approach…… So what is this result that we can see right now?」

While muttering those words to herself, Bel-chan dropped her shoulders in a gesture of complete disappointment.

And thanks to this rather unfortunate introduction and conflict that resulted from it, what was supposed to be a simple and easy cleaning job of the Cat Lodge got off to a rather turbulent start from the very first day.

* * *

The very next day, Bel-chan and Sheffield decided to bring their own cleaning supplies with them for the purpose of cleaning the Cat Lodge.

「Excuse me.」

「P-Please pardon the intrusion.」

As soon as the two maids opened the door to their assigned room, there was a dodgeball ball that was thrown right in their faces at a very high speed.

However, Sheffield managed to grab the ball with only one hand and stop it from hitting her face at the very last possible moment, and she did that without flinching or any kind of hesitation at all.

「Which one? Whose bright idea was it to do something like that so suddenly?」

After saying that Sheffield threw the ball she just grabbed to the side just like that and entered the room.

Surprised at just how amazing Sheffield’s reflexes were, Bel-chan also went inside the room and closed the door behind her.

Apparently, it was Soup and Peppa who were playing with the dodgeball ball just now.

Sheffield immediately stood in front of the two animals and spoke to them quite clearly.

「No playing with ball-shaped objects indoors. Do you understand?」

And even though Sheffield told them that quite clearly and in a way that left little to no room for possible interpretation, the two Meowofficers just looked away from her as if they did not understand a word she just said.

Sheffield let out a resigned sigh out of her mouth.

「Goodness gracious. You see, the thing is…… I think that my attitude with you thus far has been way too lenient.」

She then glared at the two Meowofficers with a sharp glint in her eye, and her hand moved swiftly over her thigh.

「Come to think of it, I should have done just that right from the start!」

「Sheffield-san, please wait!」

Before Bel-chan could tell her to stop, Sheffield had drawn her pistol from the holster.

The muzzle of her gun was then properly aimed at one of the Meowofficers.

Two shots were then fired in quick succession, and a thunderous roar resounded across the room, loud enough to crack someone’s eardrums without issue.

Soup and Peppa did not even know what happened.

This action of Sheffield’s was so sudden that they could not even move at all, and stared blankly at the two holes that were made right at the base of their feet.

There were two corpses of insects lying there.

「…… I should have exterminated them yesterday.」

Sheffield said so relentlessly as she holstered her gun away.

「No way, the last time you tried to shoot your gun, you were actually aiming for those insects, Sheffield-san……?」

When Bel-chan asked her that, Sheffield answered her while neatly arranging her own skirt with a grim expression on her face.

「And did you think that there was some other reason besides that one?」

Then she glanced at the two Meowofficers.

「There was no helping it. It was dangerous, wasn’t it? I couldn’t help it but to shoot it because those insects were right at their feet.」

Sheffield spoke up in a as-a-matter-of-fact tone while looking down.

The moment the Meowofficers saw her freezing-cold eyes, both Soup and Peppa trembled in fear.

「Next time I will aim faster —— and more accurately. Mark my words.」

Even that statement sounded different to the two of the cat-like creatures.

After that, the two Meowofficers hurriedly tried to find some cover, while Sheffield finally dropped her eyes from them and picked up her own broomstick.

「Well then, now we can finally get to work smoothly and without interruption.」

And just like that, the cleaning process could finally start in earnest.