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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 4 Chapter 1 Part 1

CHAPTER 1: The Conference Regarding the School Festival

It was the day when the sweltering heat of summer finally began to pass and a cool breeze of autumn began to blow through the air, even in the middle of the day.

In the Royal Navy’s dormitory built on a small hill located on the west side of the Home Port island,

「—— Please, hurry up, Your Majesty! The meeting is about to begin in just a moment!」

A sudden woman’s voice, loud and strong like that of a giant bell, rang out from outside of the building.

「I know! I know! Why do you think we are running like this, even though it’s improper, huh!?」

This was followed was a loud roar of pure anger.

The commotion at the front door of the dormitory was so loud that even the sparrows resting on the nearby trees cocked their heads as they looked in that direction to see what exactly was going on here, and it was precisely at that moment that,

「If we were to be late for the School Festival Conference meeting, as the active representative of the Royal Navy, I would be utterly disappointed in myself! Not to mention ashamed of showing myself in front of others! So hurry up!」

Warspite pushed the front door open with a loud crashing sound.

The sparrows were so surprised by the force of that move that they became startled by it and got up from the trees and flew away all at once, and mere moments later the appearance of Queen Elizabeth came out rushing from the inside of the dormitory.

「I mean! I mean! There was just no helping it! Wouldn’t you agree!?」

As both Warspite and Queen Elizabeth kept on running forward, the two started yelling at one another.

「There was no way that we could have gone out without me finishing all of that paperwork in the first place! After all, I am Her Majesty the Queen of the Royal Navy before I am the representative of the Royal Navy in this Home Port! And abandoning my administrative duties is something that I must never allow to happen!」

「Yes, I know! I realize that all too well, Your Majesty! But for the time being, please hurry it up! We are going to be late otherwise!」

At that time Warspite, who had descended the slope and arrived at the foot of the hill, suddenly turned around and……

「That is exactly why we need to hurry, Your Majesty! Coming late for a meeting such as this is simply unbecoming and —— Huh? What the!?」

Warspite looked towards Elizabeth who just now exclaimed “Hyah!?” with a loud and frantic voice.

Contrary to her intentions, both of her legs were steadily moving at a really fast pace, and nothing seemed to indicate that Elizabeth was about to come to a halt anytime soon.

「Whoa, whoa, WHOA!? What should I do!? What the hell is going on!?」

However, since Elizabeth was in this exact situation right now, it was already too late for her to be asking that question and wondering what she should do.

Elizabeth started to flail her arms all over the place frantically, her face twitching with terror and desperation.

「W-Warspite!? What am I supposed to do!? I can’t stop! I can’t stop my feet anymore! Move! Move out of the way!!! Out of the way, Warspitttttteeeeee!!!!!!」

However, even though Warspite was instructed to move out of the way right this instant, for some reason she just continued to be standing where she stood, completely unable to move.

Now, on the contrary, Warspite turned around so that she was facing Elizabeth straight ahead, with her arms firmly outstretched to the sides, as if she was making herself ready to catch Elizabeth.

「Warspite!? What the hell do you think you’re doing!?」

「No matter what happens, I just cannot allow you to be hurt, Your Majesty! So come! Right at me! No need to be shy!」

「You! Just listen to yourself! Do you even realize what you are……」

At that moment Elizabeth’s legs managed to tangle against one another.

As a result, Elizabeth lost her balance and was thrown into the air by her own momentum, since she was leaning forward at the time.

「——— even SAAAAAAYYYYYYIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!?!?!?!?!?

And falling forward just like that with no sense of control, Elizabeth continued to fall forward at high speed, until eventually she crashed directly into Warspite’s chest, ultimately coming to an abrupt stop.

「Bufuegh!?」

Amazingly, Warspite managed to catch Elizabeth successfully —— of course, she paid a great price for that maneuver, but the important thing here was that she managed to succeed in what she wanted to do.

As for Elizabeth, she stumbled and wobbled her way up, holding her nose and pulling her face away from Warspite’s chest slowly.

Fortunately, it would seem that Elizabeth did not suffer any major damage because of that incident just now. It was mostly thanks to Warspite pulling her body just before Elizabeth crashed into her in order to soften the blow of the impact.

「Are you injured anywhere, Your Majesty?」

Warspite immediately asked Elizabeth that, wanting to be extra sure.

「…… No, fortunately, no. It was a really nice catch, Warspite. Thank you very much ——」

「I am glad to hear that you are uninjured, Your Majesty. But right now, every second counts……Well then, please excuse me!」

Without even giving Elizabeth any time to express her gratitude completely or catch her breath after this incident just now, Warthheit tried to move on at full speed once again.

「H-Hey, Warspite! Wait a second! At least let me thank you properly for saving me just now!」

Elizabeth wailed once again, waving her arm around frantically like a madman.

There was a fountain in the center of the Academy’s grounds featuring a monument that resembles an anchor.

On the north side of the Academy building itself was a splendid large auditorium, and today all of the faction representatives were having a meeting there for the purpose of organizing the School Festival. To me more specific, the meeting was scheduled to take place in one of the auditorium’s smaller rooms.

Elizabeth, the representative of the Royal Navy faction, quickly ran through the crowd of people near the auditorium in hopes of arriving at the last possible moment, with less than ten seconds left on the clock before the meeting’s scheduled start time.

She dashed down the hallway until she stood in front of the farthest room down the corridor, where the meeting was supposed to take place. Elizabeth then yanked the door open with one hand with all of the might her small body could muster.

「I’m sorry for making you all wait!」

She then raised her voice while also raising her shoulder in a gesture of apology.

Immediately after that, the entirety of the auditorium was filled with the chimes of the bell cone coming from the speakers installed in corridors and in the rooms.

「It would seem that we managed to get here in time…… Although just barely.」

When Warspite who was right at Elizabeth’s side, placed her hand on the door with one hand while she was wiping the sweat off of her forehead with her other hand, she muttered those last words sternly,

「—— Fufu, it looks like we will be able to start our meeting on time, which is a good thing.」

The one who said that was the Sakura Empire’s Battleship of the Mikasa Class, Mikasa. She also looked at both Warspite and Elizabeth with a smile on her face.

「Since the two of you were running so late, we were starting to get seriously worried.」

「As the Queen, as well as the representative of the Royal Navy, I know that I should not be late for meetings quite like this one. However, would you not agree that it is also the duty of those in power and of high esteem to come in last? Isn’t that right, Warspite?」

「Yes, Your Majesty. You are exactly right with this one.」

Warspite then bowed down her head respectfully as she closed the door behind the two of them. After looking at Warspite with a satisfied smile present on her lips, Elizabeth glanced at Mikasa’s face.

「But even so, fancy meeting you here, Mikasa. Why were you chosen for this meeting? Wasn’t Nagato supposed to come here, just like during the meeting that was held last year?」

「Yes, you are right, about that. Actually, Nagato is currently absent from the Home Port due to another urgent matter, and I was chosen as an Acting Representative of the Sakura Empire for this year’s meeting.」

Mikasa smiled and puffed out her chest with pride, and a voice came from beside her, seeming to be in a hurry.

「—— How about we all sit down for the time being? As you know, this meeting is not only about the Royal Navy alone.」