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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 3 Chapter 4 Part 6

In fact, Edinburgh greatly misunderstood what Belfast said earlier.

When she said, ‘There is no need to rush’, it actually meant ‘You can take it slow and learn at your own pace, you don’t have to rush yourself to match Kent and Sirius’s progress’.

In fact, even though Belfast’s dance moves seemed to be so perfect in Edinburgh’s eyes, the Head Maid herself knew that her moves were off-rhythm, not even close to those of Kent and Sirius. And so she wanted for Edinburgh not to rush with her training, but it would seem that her intentions had been interpreted the wrong way here from the start.

「See? If I do it like this hare, then surely……」

At that moment, Edinburgh’s legs tangled once again.

Her body was completely unable to respond to the speed at which her legs were moving right about now. Because she tried to move as fast as she could, she only ended up overpowering herself and flipping over even more spectacularly than before.

「Hiyaah!」

Edinburgh collapses to the ground with a loud *THUD*.

「Goodness gracious…… See? I told you something like that would happen if you rush things.」

「A-Are you okay, Edinburgh-nee-sama?」

Belfast and Bel-chan hurriedly approached Edinburgh while she was still lying on the ground.

Edinburgh was lying face down as if she had dived head-first into the grass.

「Beh! Beh! Uuuhh…………… I think I just ate some dirt.」

Not only did she manage to scrape her knees and elbows really badly, but she also managed to get her glasses all dirty with grass and soil, and then they fell off of her nose.

Edinburgh then ran her hands all around herself, looking for her glasses. At that moment, even she could not hide the fact that the results of her training were nothing more but utterly disastrous.

And right after that, she could hear a sound that she was so afraid to hear —— an unpleasant cracking sound, as if something metallic popped just now.

「…… P-Please don’t tell me that just now it was what I think it was.」

Without a moment’s delay, Edinburgh turned her head towards the source of that sound, and she could only see a vague silhouette with my naked eyes there, but it seemed that the person standing right in front of her was Sirius.

Even though she couldn’t see her clearly, Edinburgh could somehow tell that Sirius’s face was really pale just about now.

As she slowly lowered her gaze, she could also see something that looked like her glasses being crushed right under Sirius’s feet, as expected from that sound.

「Oh, it’s just that…… When I tried to run over here…… Umm, I didn’t even pay attention to what was under my feet……」

As soon as she said that, Sirius took a few steps back and started to vigorously bow her head up and down.

「I’m sorry! I am really sorry! It’s all my fault! I broke Edinburgh-senpai’s glasses because of my careless actions…… Please, I beg of you! Please punish this stupid, naughty maid!」

「Ah, ahahaha…… No, don’t worry about it, Sirius. If anyone, I should be at fault here for creating such a situation in the first place……」

Edinburgh sat up from her prone position and saw that her entire uniform had been soiled with dirt and grass while she was in her kneeling position. It also seemed appropriate that she would have to go back to the dorm and change her clothes.

「Not to mention that your glasses are all messed up, Edinburgh-nee-sama.」

Bel-chan said that as she picked up Edinburgh’s broken glasses.

Edinburgh squinted her eyes to see if her glasses had their lenses cracked, which they sadly did. And even the frame was broken in a couple of places, so it looked like she would need to replaced that pair with a brand new one.

「…… I hope that you are unhurt anywhere?」

Edinburgh raised her head in that moment, feeling that Belfast’s voice was a little bit more inorganic than it would usually be.

「Uhhh, y-yeah…… I’m really sorry for that.」

「Of course you are. And you should be.」

Hearing those words from Belfast’s mouth, Edinburgh lowered her head, now utterly convinced.

—— Bel is really angry. And it’s only understandable……

There were subtle differences and nuances in behavior that only sisters could understand, from spending so much time with one another.

Belfast then spoke kindly to Sirius who was right next to Edinburgh.

「It’s not your fault, Sirius. So please, raise your head and don’t feel bad. Everything is alright now.」

Then she looked at Edinburgh again and held out her hand to her.

「Nee-san, do you think you can walk back to the dorm by yourself?」

Edinburgh stood up with the help of Belfast outstretched hand.

「Y-Yeah…… Thanks, Bel.」

Even when she was angry at her, Belfast was still so kind.

「This concludes today’s training session. With this, both Kent and Sirius can explain the dance steps they took here to the other maids as well. After that, when you are going to go and return that music player to Akashi-san, Bel-chan, please order a new pair of glasses for Nee-san. Think you could do that for me?」

「Understood! ……By the way, how long will it take for the ordered new pair of glasses to arrive?」

In response to Bel-chan’s question, Edinburgh tried to remember exactly how long it took for the glasses to arrive when she changed them last time.

「If I remember correctly, I broke it when I was sent to do some military commission, but at that time it was somewhere around thirteen days or so……」

Edinburgh was then accompanied by Belfast as she returned to their room, thinking that the lack of her glasses would be incredibly inconvenient for her to work as a maid for a while from now on.

* * *

After changing her clothes in their room, Edinburgh immediately took the dirty clothes and went out into the hallway.

When she returned to the room earlier, she was surprised to see just how late of an hour the table clock was showing. Apparently dance practice was taking up more time than she thought it would take.

Edinburgh quickly started walking down the corridor, thinking that she had to prepare the meal immediately, while Belfast had already returned to the kitchen ahead of all others.

「I have to hurry, too ——」

But then Edinburgh arrived at the stairs and she realized that her glasses were now gone. It was at that exact time that she had come to realize just how inconvenient her daily life without them was going to be.

Her vision was all blurry and it was hard for her to grasp the height of the stairs.

「Wow, I never even realized just how frustrating this is going to be.」

She thought that she would boldly go down one step at a time, but Belfast would surely get really angry at her if she got herself injured as a result of such reckless action.

Above all else, at this rate she would be unable to even attend the ball, the one that she always dreamed of. Wanting to avoid that eventuality at all costs, Edinburgh stifled her abruptness and cautiously descended the stairs.

When she finally made it to the kitchen, the maids were already running around in a hurry, getting everything ready.

「I have to help too…. Ouch!」

As soon as she entered the kitchen, Edinburgh ran headlong into Suffolk, who was coming from her right, and Edinburgh failed to notice her in time.

「W-Who’s standing there, just like that!? Huh? I-Is that you…… Edinburgh-san?」

For a moment out there, it would seem that Suffolk was unable to recognize Edinburgh without her signature glasses sitting on top of her nose.

Suffolk narrowed her eyes and looked intently into Edinburgh’s face.

「Hmmm… Looking at you like this, Edinburgh-san, you do really look a whole lot like the Head Maid, you know!」

「I-Is that so…?」

Edinburgh was mostly spectacled and brimless throughout her day, the only exceptions from that being the times when she would take a bath and go to sleep.

There may be other maids who don’t know how Edinburgh’s face looked without her glasses on. When Edinburgh was busy thinking about that, it was then that Suffok in front of her suddenly remembered something and ran towards the dining room.

「Oh yeah, that’s right! I had to wipe the tables in the dining room! I need to hurry! Edinburgh-san, if there’s something that you need, please let me know right away! Bye now~!」

「Uh… Y-Yeah, be seeing you.」

After waving her hand at Suffolk, Edinburgh approached the cooking table.

Plates of freshly prepared dishes were all lined up right in front of her eyes.

「Everyone else is using the serving carts right now…… so I guess I’ll just have to carry it on the tray for the time being.」