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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 4 Chapter 1 Part 10

As for Sirius, she covered her see-through and wet maid clothes with a towel, and she looked down and said apologetically.

「Please forgive me for being such a lowly and naughty maid…… I will go and change my clothes as soon as I am done with making my part of the preparations for breakfast, no sooner! This will be my punishment!」

「No, Sirius, there is no need for you to punish yourself like that. Besides, in those wet clothes you are going to catch a cold. Go back to your room and change your clothes at once. Then you can come back and help with the breakfast preparations.」

However, Sirius’s mouth was about to open once again, but before she was able to voice any words of protest to Belfast’s directive, she was basically pushed out of the kitchen by everyone else who was present in there for the time being.

「But still…… I wonder why she’s always like that, every single time.」

While Edinburgh grumbled those words with a wry smile, Echo, who had been staring at the maids with her mouth wide open, hurriedly started to move her pen across the surface of her notepad.

「I-I can see it now…… It takes many different kinds of people to make the Maid Corps, isn’t that right?」

* * *

What came right after that was a truly tumultuous time.

「Did you make sure to get all the plates out!?」

「The food is all ready! Someone, please take it away and serve it up!」

In no time at all, the kitchen was filled with many more maids, and they each took turns running back and forth between the dining room and the kitchen proper.

「T-This looks more like a regular warzone rather than your standard dorm kitchen……」

Stunned by the continuous hustle and bustle of the scene before her eyes, Echo instinctively stopped moving her pen over her notepad and looked like she wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

She thought I would be best if she at least moved to a place where she would not get in everyone else’s way, but by the time she was actually able to do that, she was already dizzy from all that was happening around her.

And then, at precisely such an unfortunate moment,

「—— Whoa there! That was seriously dangerous, you know? What’s wrong?」

Edinburgh’s eyes managing to spot the swaying Echo with her eyes all swirling, she quickly embraced her and asecurated her body, preventing her from falling down and accidentally hurting herself..

「Hyah! E-Edinburgh-san……!? I-I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!」

Seeing who just helped her out, Echo jumped out of her grasp and pulled herself away instantly.

「T-To ask you for help when you are already so busy and have your hands so full…… That would disqualify me as the interviewer, for sure!」

「Oh, don’t say that. Surely you are exaggerating things a little bit……」

「NO, it’s not an exaggeration! I am sorry for being such an inconvenience to everyone around here!」

Looking at Echo while she was bowing her head deeply, Edinburgh placed her hand on top of her hair and stroked them gently. She then thought for a good moment as to what to do about this situation.

—— I am sure that if she was looking at me with a more down-to-Earth attitude, we would have been able to explain all the things that she wants to know to her in a calm manner, instead of overwhelming her with all of this right off the bat.

Though such a thought crossed her mind for a moment, Edinburgh made sure to quickly shake it off.

—— Ah! No, no, no! Don’t, Edinburgh! You absolutely cannot start thinking like that!

This girl looks up to you —— You have to act like a good big sister and a proper role model to her!

However, there was nothing she could do about all that commotion around them for the time being.

Edinburgh then carefully surveilled her surroundings, and after a moment she took Echo by the hand and led her to a less busy place, where she then made her sit on a small chair for the time being.

「I am sure that watching all of us run around like that must have been pretty tiring. Not to mention confusing. I know that this place can be pretty hectic at times. But it’s okay now. If we stay here for a moment, we should not end up disturbing anyone’s work.」

But almost right after Edinburgh managed to say that,

「One fork still seems to be missing!」

Hearing such a voice echoing from somewhere, Edinburgh immediately raised her voice in that general direction.

「If it’s a fork that you are looking for, another maid took it just now, so it should be fine for now!」

「Butter! Is there any butter in here!? We are still lacking the butter!」

「If it’s about the butter, I just cut some of it and someone already took it onto the serving carts! Go check them out and see what you can find!」

Edinburgh immediately responded to the voices that followed one after another without stopping.

It would seem that she did not have time for a leisurely conversation with Echo. At least not right now.

「I am sorry, but all of the preparations will be finished in a little while, so please rest here for a while longer, alright Echo ——」

With that said, Edinburgh stood up and looked as if she was about to go somewhere and leave Echo all alone,

「……… Huh?」

At that moment, Echo felt really startled.

Echo, who was supposed to be taking notes and observing the maids at work carefully, was currently staring at Edinburgh with a blank expression, her eyes for some reason filled with an extreme sense of longing.

「Just now…… Wow! How did you know what everyone else was doing and what it was that they wanted?」

「That’s…… Actually, if you work here for long enough, you just kind of learn to spot those things right away and kind of know by instinct where is what. For someone like us maids, it’s something completely normal……」

「Amazing! It’s really amazing! You are seriously amazing, Edinburgh-san!」

「N-No, not really…… I mean it, everyone would be able to do this just fine if they just were…… Really…」

「I would surely be unable to do something as amazing as that! Where is my notepad!? I need to make a memo about this! A memo ——」

Seeing Echo’s enthusiasm come back to her at full power, Edinburgh managed to swallow the words that she was about to say just now.

—— No, no, you can’t, Edinburgh! You absolutely can’t……! I would feel really sorry if I were to say such a thing to someone who respects me so much! Even though it really is not that big of a deal! …… So play along for now! Make sure that you won’t end up disappointing the precious little thing!

And when Edinburgh was desperately trying to endured the urge to say something humble here,

「Hm? What’s wrong? Did something happen?」

Before Edinburgh could even notice, Echo had already finished writing her newest memo and was looking at Edinburgh with a somewhat pained expression painted all over her face.

「I-It’s nothing! Nothing, really! N-Now then, how about we go now and get back to work post-haste? Keep up the good work!」

Now, even though Echo said something like that, the fact that she knew that she was being watched so closely all the time took precedence over Edinburgh’s usual readiness to do her work, causing her to go back to her responsibilities in a really jerky state.

「Uhh, y-yeah…… L-Let’s get down to it, I guess……」

Even after that, Edinburgh continued to work as per usual, but the fact that she knew that Echo was paying close attention to her every single move was really making her feel uneasy and unable to relax properly. That kind of work soon started to take a heavy toll on Edinburgh’s nerves.

When breakfast time was finally over and it was time to start cleaning and doing the laundry, Edinburgh and Echo headed towards the linen room.

Once Edinburgh collected some freshly washed and dried bed sheets and carpets, they went out and were on their way to the various rooms that needed their carpets or sheets changed.

Along the way, Edinburgh stopped by one of the maids who was in charge of cleaning the windows on this floor, and asked her if she could perhaps give Echo a simple description of what her job was all about.

「I’m sorry, but could you spare a moment of your time? This girl here has a few questions she would like to ask of you.」

Then Edinburgh called out to Echo and let her interview the maid properly.