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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 4 Chapter 2 Part 10

She’s the kind of a character that everyone loves, to the extent that it makes you think it’s utterly ridiculous.」

「Probably, but she could not draw that characteristic all that well, and Her Majesty rewrote it many times over and over again.」

Warspite let out yet another sigh.

「Her Majesty, I am sure it was because of you, Belfast —— No, I am sure that she decided to write that happy ending because of the desire of everyone in the Royal Navy to see the happy ending to this story. “We want Boo-san and Rei-san to live happily ever after”. …… That is why she must have been reluctant to let you see that script in the first place.」

「Is that really…… what Her Majesty was trying to convey here?」

Warspite pulled himself away from the wall and asked Belfast if she could return the manuscript to her.

「Either way, if things continue to escalate in this exact way, then nothing good will ever possibly come out of it. There is no time that we have to just sit and wait until Her Majesty’s ideal performance is achieved. No matter how stubborn she is, I think that there is no way that she is going to be able to finish the script completely on her own.

「Then what is it that you propose we should do?」

「It’s actually really simple. From now on, we should manage the quality of the story and make sure that it follows in the right direction.」

「You want us to serve as Quality Control?」

「That’s right. We will check the quality of Her Majesty’s manuscript, and make corrections if necessary. It would be a shared task that would assure that the manuscript will be created without delay.」

In other words, by playing the role of an editor, they would adjust the direction of Elizabeth’s manuscript as she would be writing it.

—— Hmm, I see. That’s actually not all that bad of an idea.

The moment Belfast clapped her hands together, she then did the same to Warspite as Warspite put her hand on Belfast’s shoulder.

「So with that being said —— I shall leave this matter to you for now, Belfast.」

Belfast unintentionally rolled her eyes upon hearing those words.

「And here I was actually looking forward to leaving this matter in your capable hands, Warspite-sama.」

At that moment Warspite bowed his head down in apparent regret.

「As for me, I…… I don’t think that I could ever bring myself to be very strict with Her Majesty the way you can, Belfast.」

Certainly, I can totally see that, Belfast thought to herself like that.

「With that being said, let us both put our entire minds to the tasks before us. If we don’t put our minds to it, the manuscript will never be finished on time.」

I don’t exactly want to see myself in the role of the Demonic Overseer, but……」

But right now neither Belfast nor Warspite were in any position to say no to that.

Since Hood has already asked them to see the script and acquire it for the Cast group to proceed with their tasks, backing out of that now would feel like abandoning a ship before it even had the chance to set sail for the first time.

「…… I understand. For the time being I will try to figure out how to get the manuscript up and ready as soon as possible.」

Belfast nodded her head and then she left the office space.

But having all said and done, what was she going to do about this entire situation?

She turned her feet toward the conference room in order to report all of those new developments to Hood..

* * *

When Belfast returned to the conference room, it seemed that all the shipgirls who wanted to be part of the play’s cast had been decided, and only Hood, King George V and Curacoa were left in the room for the time being.

Belfast immediately explained to Hood what had happened in the office with Elizabeth and the manuscript.

「—— And that’s more or less what happened.」

「……Hm, I see. Very well, I understand the situation, even though it really is a shame that things had to turn out this way. At this rate, we might not really be able to match the script at all.」

「It does not matter if it’s going to be temporary or not, but the script has to be completed in one way or another. Would you like for us to maybe set some sort of a deadline for Her Majesty to be aware of at all times? It might help to speed up the process.」

Belfast decided it would be best to consult with Hood about it, and she raised her eyebrows while placing her hand on her cheek, about to concrete and think about the possible schedule of work.

「If we want to think of a stage play as a three-act structure, “Beginning, Middle Act, and End”, then I would like for the Beginning to be finished as soon as possible, but……」

Just then, King George V pulled out a table calendar from somewhere and put it on top of the desk.

「If we consider a stage play to be about an hour long, the ‘Introduction’ part should be about twenty minutes long. With all that being said, let’s say that the deadline for the Introduction to be ready is going to be in about four days’ time.」

So the introduction had to be done four days from now on, huh?

Somehow, it seemed to be even way more strict of a request than Belfast would have initially anticipated.

「With that being said, please don’t let your guard down and make Her Majesty get to work as soon as possible, And bring the Introduction part back to us as soon as possible. Without that part being ready, we can’t even decide on the casting for each part.」

The words of King George V were actually really painful to hear, especially when they were being delivered in such a straightforward way.

Continuing on, King Goerge V turned towards Belfast, pointing towards the table calendar and beginning to talk about the plans for the nearby future.

「After that deadline, the next parts of the script must be completed post-haste. The deadline for the last part should be set about ten days after the Introduction part. Considering the time we are going to need for the actual practice, this is something that is going to be the absolute last line, something that we will have to be able to do and perform, even if it is not going to be the best stage play that ever was.」

「Very well. I understand. I shall take all that into consideration.」

Belfast bowed her head deeply and then left the conference room.

As she was about to return to the kitchen, she came out into the corridor when Curacoa managed to catch up to her.

「This is starting to turn out to be quite a serious situation, isn’t it? I never would have thought that the auditor’s job is going to be so serious like this.」

While listening to Curacoa’s words, Belfast was seriously puzzled over what to do next.

「Anyways, Her Majesty must be tired from staying up all night like that. Let us take her a rest today and ask her how she wants to approach writing the script tomorrow. But the problem is going to be those deadlines that we just brought onto our heads……」

When they came back to the kitchen, there was no one inside, probably because the audit of the other teams had not finished yet. While Curaçoa began to prepare the meal immediately, Belfast tried to pick up a pre-made Azart that had been stored in the Still Room.

But on the contrary,

「The key……」

The key to the Still Room, which was supposed to be hanging on the kitchen’s wall, was nowhere to be found. Belfast then started to wonder if perhaps someone else had already taken the key.

「Perhaps……」

Belfast then left the kitchen through the back door and turned the knob on the Still Room’s door.

The door turned out to be unlocked and the Head Maid could easily go inside of the Still Room.

Then she could smell the scent of freshly baked sponge cake and the aroma of fresh cream wafting through the air.

「—— Ufufu. So, even someone like you got lured in here by the sweet smell of my baking, hm? Belfast the Head Maid?」

Belfast could easily tell who the other person inside of the Still Room was just by the way in which she said those words, especially the emphasis she put on the baking part.

「Neptune-sama? You were here for a while, weren’t you?」

Neptune, who was in the middle of decorating the freshly baked cake, put whipped cream on her finger with a devilish smile. She then licked it softly and cleanly.