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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 4 Chapter 3 Part 8

Next one in line was the movie presented by the Eagle Union.

And it was just as both Belfast and Elizabeth were wondering what kind of performance they would show them, the pitch-black screen flashed with a bright light and the eardrums of everyone present were pierced by the loud and violent sounds of firearms being fired.

Immediately after that, a fighter jet taking off from the aircraft carrier’s deck was shown from a first-person perspective.

Neither Belfast nor Elizabeth had any idea how in the world that scene was filmed, but both of them got a feeling as if they were thrown right in the middle of an actual warzone with that image. It was that kind of realism.

The content of the movie that the Eagle Union shot was a fictitious war story. The story itself did not actually have a particularly deep background or meaning behind it, but it was a story about suddenly finding yourself in a dire situation and holding on while waiting for reinforcements from your allies to come and save you.

「Both Sakura Empire and Eagle Union’s productions were equally as good, I would have a really hard time deciding which one was better here……」

After the theater hall became bright once again, Belfast turned towards Elizabeth and told her those exact words.

「Both of them were incredibly powerful images, that’s for sure…… To be honest, even if we tried to compete with this kind of content, we would have no chance of winning, or even putting up a decent fight.」

That may be so, but Belfast already had her answer ready to that statement.

「But, Your Majesty, I think that in terms of story quality, our stage play is much better.」

This was a rather subjective view on Belfast’s side, but she was honestly believing that.

That’s why she was proud of the fact that she would be a part of a wonderful stage play that was put together as a result of overcoming various happenings together with her comrades. All that was now left for them to do was to convey that passion of theirs properly in the actual live production.

It would be then left to the audience to decide whether or not they would be moved by their stage play and if they would come to appreciate it.

「Ah, Your Majesty! There you are! I have been looking for you!」

At that time, the one to approach the seats where Belfast and Elizabeth were sitting was none other than Warspite.

Judging from the pencil that she was holding in her hand, she must have been helping with carrying some of the props that the Tool-Making Team made.

「I am going to see how the Sound and Lighting Team is doing for the time being.」

Saying this, Belfast stood up from her seat, offered her seat up to Warspite, and headed to the Sound Room where Amazon and her group were to tell them what she thought of the Iron-Blood’s concert.

After exiting the soundproof door and going up the nearby stairs to the third floor of the building, there was a door with a nameplate that said “Acoustic Room” on it.

Besides Amazon, there were only two other people in the sound room: Bel-chan and Curlew.

It seemed that Sirius was probably in the Dimming room and that the lights needed more manpower in order to be handled properly.

「Oh, Belfast-nee-sama! What’s wrong?」

Beside Bel-chan, who stood up from her chair to greet her, Amazon continued to fiddle with the sound mixer and various other equipment and consoles.

「Right now, we are doing some of the final checks. If you have any questions, I would really appreciate it if they could wait for later.」

「Actually, I realized something during the performance of the Iron Blood’s Orchestra that I happened to see earlier. It was regarding the placement of the instruments on top of the stage.」

While looking at Amazon with a serious expression, Belfast told her that right away.

Then, while taking some piece of paper and a pencil that just so happened to be placed on the nearby table, she drew a rough placement map with it, paying close attention to places where specific instruments were supposed to be placed. Especially the string section, wind section and percussion.

「I do believe that this particular setting is a little bit different from the usual, orthodox one. It seems that they have a special arrangement based on their familiarity with the acoustics of this theater.」

When Belfast pointed to the specific places on her drawing, Amazon finally let go of the mixer and consoles stared at the paper that the Head Maid had drawn, and said after a moment:

「……The position of the bass section is strange to dismiss it as just a classic layout. Could it be that the position of the wall is impairing the thickness of the bass strings or something like that……?」

Muttering to herself like that, Amazon stood up and stared at the walls around the audience seats, then turned to Belfast and pulled two things out of her coat’s pocket.

「What is this?」

When Belfast asked her that question, Amazon simply turned away and started to mess with the mixer and consoles once again.

「The diagram of the Receiver across the entire theater is not all that good to begin with, but later I will send bass frequencies from each of the five speakers across the audience seats that I have checked before, so make sure you can hear all of them properly at that time.」

「Is that really alright to give me such an important task to handle? Will I be able to understand it?」

「Oh, don’t worry about it, it’s actually really easy. I just want you to subjectively judge whether the sound is too muddy or too thin.」

Thinking about what Amazon just told her, Belfast stared at the receiver that was handed to her and the blueprints that came along with it.

Then, Curlew, who had been silent until just now, finally decided to open her mouth and speak up.

「Belfast, it’s good that you want to help us here, but once you are done with that, shouldn’t you actually go back to the Casting Team. After all, the time for the performance is almost upon us.」

「Yes, that’s right. Thank you for reminding me. I will go back to the Casting Team as soon as I will be done here.」

After thanking the Amazons and leaving the sound room, Belfast went down the stairs and immediately went to the audience to check the bass.

After somehow being able to help and finish with setting up the speakers across the audience seats, Belfast rushed back to the waiting room, and she could see that for some reason the entire Casting crew was waiting in the hallway.

「It looks like adjusting the costumes takes a whole lot more time than it was initially expected.」

The one to say those words was Newcastle, who emerged out of the dressing room and managed to answer Belfast’s question before she was even able to ask it in the first place.

「Oh my, is that so? I thought that this might actually be the case here.」

「How was the inspection of the “enemy” that Her Majesty was so eager to conduct? I hope that she found the results to be satisfactory?」

In contrast to Newcastle’s interlocutor, Belfast said with an indescribable expression on her face.

「We could have most certainly call it a bountiful harvest, but…… All I can say is that I will do everything in my power to do whatever I can to make this stage play the best performance during this School Festival.」

Hood, hearing this, chuckled a little bit.

「As expected of Belfast. But, you could say that everyone feels the same way here.」

Then King George V announced to everyone present.

「We still have a little bit of time left. Cast members, please gather here for a moment.」

As the Cast members were all assembled in one place, King George V put her arm around the shoulders of Javelin and Belfast who were on either side of her.

「All the Casting Team members, let us form a circle right here and right now, to add ourselves some of that much needed strength and courage.」

When everyone nodded at that proposal while grinning, before long a large circle of the members of the Casting Team was formed right in the middle of the corridor.

Cygnet as Boo-san, Hood-san as Rei-san.

Emile Bertin and Javelin, who were going to be playing the roles of the seniors of both Rei-san and Boo-san.

Even Curacoa, as the auditor and a part of the team, also joined in.

「Listen up! We are definitely going to make this stage play into a huge success!」