Outbreak Company: Volume 5

by Ichiro Sakaki

  “Shinichi-sama! Shinichi-samaaaa...”

  Tears began pouring out of my eyes. I couldn’t stop them.

  A week passed in the blink of an eye.

  The window still had bars over it. The door was still locked from the outside.

  My room was large enough, and pretty well-appointed. I had an attached toilet and bath, and even what seemed to be a small kitchen. Three meals a day were delivered to me.

  I had just about everything I could want—but practically speaking, I was still under house arrest.

  Sure, I was a former home security guard and shut-in, so being shut up in my room for a week didn’t bother me at all in principle. But back then, I’d had manga and games and light novels and anime DVDs to entertain me, plus I could sometimes figuratively “go outside” via the internet. Spending a week in a room without even one of those distractions left me with plenty of time to kill.

  There was one thing in my room, though: Clara.

  Clara, the serving girl with animal ears, an animal tail, and a seriously loli vibe. She may not have had the headdress, the apron, or the black dress, but she was effectively my maid.

  A beast-girl maid!!

  The crushing power of that combination is almost beyond the ability of words to describe.

  True, she wasn’t very expressive—or anyway, I didn’t feel like I saw a lot of emotion from her—but if I thought of her as a kuudere, or one of those “weird girl” types, that could actually be seen as a positive.

  Not to mention, not only was this girl doing the cooking and cleaning for me, she even wanted to offer herself to me at night. If I asked, she would literally do anything I wanted without so much as a frown. Being cooped up with a maid like that... Well, it only leaves you with one thing to do, if you know what I mean.

  “Sire— how— is— this?” Clara asked, speaking in rhythmic beats. “How— does— it— feel?”

  “Mm, good,” I replied in the same rhythm. The bed creaked in time underneath me.

  “Really— really— good... Ah— mm— right— there—!”

  “Like— this?!”

  “Yes—! Ahhh...!”

  It felt so good, I couldn’t keep a sigh from slipping out.

  “Oh... Oh man— Clara... You— said— you were— new to— this!”

  “But— I— am—!”

  “So— Sooo good—! You’re— amazing!”

  “Do you— mean it—?” Clara asked from where she knelt above me.

  “Sire— it’s so— hard—!”

  “There! Mmm—!”

  Her technique—I really couldn’t believe she didn’t have a lot of experience. I gasped again.

  Above me, Clara started moving faster.

  “Ooh! There...!”

  “You mean— here—?”

  “Yes! Ahhh...!”

  ..........................

  Er, well, you get the idea.

  Clara was giving me massages on an almost daily basis.

  “I just can’t do anything about my shoulders and hips all by myself.”

  I lay on my stomach on the bed, my face turned to one side. Clara was astride me, her small, pale hands working the tension out of my muscles.

  For the record, I was the one who taught her how to give a massage. First I gave her one, and then she gave me one.

  I’m actually pretty good at giving massages, if I may say so myself. My parents are both desk jockeys, so they would often give me some pocket change in exchange for pounding their shoulders or the like. I learned about lots of different massage techniques in hopes of increasing my take even further, and in the process I actually acquired some genuine skill.

  So it was easy enough to teach Clara the basics.

  “Ohh. You’re a lifesaver. That really feels great.”

  When you spend all your time reading books or fiddling around on the computer, your shoulders naturally become tense. But I was still just a teenager and never paid it much mind, so it just kept getting worse and worse. Sure, I could ask somebody to rub my shoulders every once in a while, but it was all women in my house—it was a little awkward asking for a massage. I guess there was always Brooke, but if he misjudged his own strength, my shoulders might end up a lot worse than just stiff.

  Yes—Clara was a girl, too. So why could I ask her for a massage when I couldn’t ask Myusel or the others? Admittedly, it was a little odd. My thought was, we weren’t actually, you know, doing it, but this was plenty close.

  As these thoughts were running through my head...

  “It’s me.”

  There was a sudden knock at the door.

  “I’m coming in.”

  Without waiting for us to answer, white-haired Elvia—I mean, Amatena—strode into the room.

  I know it’s impolite to keep confusing them. But seriously, they look so alike! Just change the hair color and you wouldn’t know which was which.

  I noticed that Clara suddenly went stiff, then hastily jumped off me. I was a little bit surprised by her reaction. She was always so muted, almost emotionless, but now—

  Guhuh?

  As she got off the bed, I saw that her tail was standing straight up.

  I thought I remembered that dogs wag their tails from side to side when they’re happy, but an erect tail means displeasure. Not sure about cats. Don’t their tails stand up when they’re having a good time?

  Clara’s face was still the picture of reserve, but might she actually be happy to see Amatena?

  Wait a second... Was this a yuri flag?

  Even as the thought went through my head, I rolled over and sat up in bed.

  “Er...”

  There were more than a few questions I wanted to ask Amatena, but she started talking first.

  “Kanou Shinichi. There’s something I want to show you, you vile pig.”

  “Huh? Show me?”

  “Correct. Make ready to go outside, immediately.”

  “Make ready? Go outside?”

  Since I had been locked up in here for a week, the clothes I’d arrived in had gone out to laundry; at the moment, I was dressed in something that looked like a local outfit. I had no real idea whether it was suitable for leaving my room, but I sort of guessed not. Should I change into something else to go out?

  Hold on—go out?!

  Amatena looked at me, her face identical to Elvia’s but without any of easygoing-ness. It didn’t look like they were planning to set me free or anything. She was going to take me somewhere else.

  “Er... Do you guys happen to distinguish between indoor and outdoor clothes?”

  “...Clara,” Amatena said. Maybe she thought there was no point in talking to me. “Help Kanou Shinichi get ready. You have your assignment.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Clara nodded sharply, still expressionless. I couldn’t help but notice, though, that her tail was still standing up. But so what? you may be wondering. I was pretty sure Clara had a thing for Amatena. Anyway, I sure hadn’t seen her tail stand up like that when she was with me... But setting aside the question of whether Clara preferred the flowery realm of yuri, it looked like I had made the right choice not laying a hand on her.

  “I’ll be waiting outside,” Amatena said, and left the room.

  Where were they planning to take me?

  I finally had a chance to get out of this cage, but all I could feel in my chest was a nameless fear.

  When everything was ready, I left the house and was hustled into a carriage that was waiting outside.

  It looked like people here got around pretty much the same way they did in the Eldant Empire. The difference was that the carriages here were pulled by giant lizards. Or, well, the impression they gave was more like dinosaurs. I mean tyrannosauruses or velociraptors—two-legged reptiles the size of cows. Two of them were attached to the carriage.

  So it was dino-drawn carriages, not bird-drawn ones, in Bahairam.

  Silence reigned in the cabin. Clara had stayed behind in the house where I had been
captive; the only ones riding in the carriage were me and Amatena. The driver was a man who wore a military uniform like hers. There was no one else around. It didn’t seem like much of a guard contingent for transporting an abductee.

  Then again, if Amatena’s physical capabilities were anything like Elvia’s, stopping me if I tried to fight or run would be a piece of cake for her. Pretty much an entire cake, actually. It wasn’t exactly impossible for a human to fight a beast person, but the odds were long.

  Minori-san might have an actual shot, come to think of it, I reflected, the image of a certain brave WAC passing through my mind. We were talking about someone who had roundhouse-kicked a dragon, after all. She had told me she was the daughter of a dojo master and had been learning martial arts since she was very young. It’s said that an excess of practice can make up for a dearth of talent. Anyway, I would hate to be the guy who thought he could get the jump on Minori-san just because she was so laid back. I bet that’d be over in one punch.

  But anyway, setting that aside...

  “So this is Bahairam?”

  Until this point I had known the Kingdom of Bahairam only by name, with no real idea what kind of place it actually was. So long as I was living in the Holy Eldant Empire, it was just “a neighboring country” or “an enemy country” or “Elvia’s homeland,” and nothing more. But now, here I was.

  “It’s very...”

  The scenery that rushed by outside the window of the dino-drawn carriage was unlike anything I’d seen in Eldant.

  I mean, was this even really a city? Long, white, single-story buildings stood at regular intervals. They lined both sides of the street, all exactly alike. It was as if they had been mass-produced from a single mold and all put in place according to the same rules. It was practically the opposite of the chaotic atmosphere of Eldant.

  On top of that, even though it was almost noon, the place was eerily quiet; I didn’t see anyone around.

  “Very what?”

  “Huh? Oh, uh... Very... neat. Organized.” I chose my words carefully.

  “I see,” Amatena said with a small nod. But it took her a second.

  Huh? Had she just hesitated over something?

  Maybe it was just my imagination.

  “It’s true that this—Borfoi, the eastern city—is one of the newer urban developments in our nation. Naturally, some of the rural settlements remain in the old style—not so well manicured. But I trust that in time all of them will be converted to be like the capital and this city.”

  Amatena offered her explanation in a dispassionate tone.

  I couldn’t quite figure out what to say. (“I love how dreary it is! You would hardly believe anyone lives here!” Maybe not.) Instead I asked, “Where are we going?”

  Amatena only glanced at me and said, “You’ll know soon enough.”

  What’s the word for this? Cold? Standoffish?

  I sighed a little. Her face really did look exactly like Elvia’s—and aside from minor physical differences and, of course, the color of her fur, so did the rest of her. Notwithstanding the white hair, ears, and tail, she was the spitting image of my resident artist. Actually, her skin was maybe just a little more pale, but you would practically have to see the two of them side by side to really notice it.

  Anyway, my point is, they really super looked like each other.

  And yet, Amatena’s personality was pretty much the exact opposite of Elvia’s. Elvia’s face was practically locked into a gigantic, friendly smile by default—whereas Amatena hardly had any expression at all.

  My entire experience of Bahairamanian people now consisted of Amatena, Clara, and Elvia, but still, the numbers made me wonder whether people from this country actually tended to be cool and expressionless like Amatena and Clara, with Elvia’s outgoing nature being the exception.

  We sat in silence. It was oddly uncomfortable being in the carriage with the sour beast person. I started to wish we would hurry up and get to wherever we were going.

  I spent some time looking out the window as I ruminated.

  “Huh?”

  That’s when I heard something getting closer.

  Some kind of lively noise.

  Actually, I guess it wasn’t getting closer to us. Our carriage was probably getting closer to it.

  At first, the sound of our vehicle drowned out the noise outside, and I couldn’t quite make out what it was, but as it got louder and louder, I realized it was the hubbub of cheering voices.

  Cheering?

  I poked my head out the window of the dino-drawn carriage, trying to ascertain the source of the sound.

  Up ahead, I could see a massive building. It was much bigger than my mansion. Not as big as Eldant Castle, maybe, but that wasn’t saying much. It certainly dwarfed the flat buildings I had seen along the road on the way here.

  What was more, this building alone had a very unique architecture. It had a very traditional-looking, elaborate exterior, with lots of flowing curves. In fact, it made me think of...

  “A temple?”

  Yes. It definitely gave the impression of being some kind of religious building.

  And in the square in front of it stood hundreds, maybe even more than a thousand, people, all cheering and shouting. The crowd seemed to be composed of several different races, with humans representing the majority, then beast people.

  But I whispered my next observation:

  “Everyone’s dressed the same.”

  The people there were all wearing simple outfits—less than simple, really. From the material to the style, the staggering difference from what Amatena was wearing was inescapable.

  I didn’t say anything, but I was starting to get, as they say, a bad feeling about this.

  Let’s review: on the one hand, we had a town full of extremely simple buildings and a crowd of people in extremely simple clothes. On the other, we had one very ostentatious temple and a minder in a military uniform that seemed to have come from another world from what everyone else was wearing.

  This was more than a difference in social class. This was...

  But even as I sat there fretting and arguing with myself, the dino-drawn carriage dino-drew closer to the temple.

  Then suddenly, a short distance from the crowd, it stopped. Everyone appeared focused on the temple, so no one seemed to notice our arrival.

  “All right, get out.”

  “Er, right.”

  I got out of the carriage to discover the road surface wasn’t paved. That would explain why the ride quality had been so poor. I can only speak for the area around the capital, but back in Eldant, most of the main roads had basic paving, being lined with flagstones in most of the major areas. It suggested that Eldant was ahead as far as urban infrastructure was concerned.

  Then again, since this wasn’t Bahairam’s capital city, it might be best not to compare the two.

  Then I noticed something.

  “Huh...?”

  Right smack on the front of the temple, and up a little.

  There was a balcony that looked down over the crowd.

  And there was a man standing on the balcony. Er, well, maybe the word “man” doesn’t give the most precise impression. Strictly speaking, he was a white-haired old dude.

  Below the mustache that covered his upper lip floated a smile; he waved magnanimously to the people gathered below. He threw back his cape: the clothes beneath were classy enough to make him look like some sort of noble.

  Like the temple itself, he definitely stood out from his surroundings.

  “Father!”

  “...Father?”

  I wrinkled my brow when I heard the shout. Father? Who? That guy on the balcony?

  What, did he have a son or daughter somewhere in the crowd?

  I scanned the assembled people, but everyone had the same smile on their face, all of them waving back at the man up above. I heard the shout of “Father” repeated several times.

  Maybe I was mishearing something? Not l
ikely. I had my magic ring to translate for me telepathically, so I didn’t run the risk of just misunderstanding a letter or something. They weren’t saying “bother” or “flounder” or whatever.

  But I was also pretty sure this entire crowd wasn’t composed entirely of the biological children of that man on the balcony.

  Actually...

  Now that I thought about it, I noticed that I couldn’t understand the vast majority of what the crowd was shouting. That meant most of the people there weren’t wearing magic interpreter rings, or whatever served that function here in Bahairam. I recalled that even in the Eldant Empire, only people above a certain social station were apt to have the rings. It was just that I spent so much of my time with people who wore them that I had almost forgotten.

  For what it was worth, I had actually learned a bit of the Eldant language myself, but I didn’t understand the bulk of what I was hearing now. That suggested the people of Bahairam spoke a different language. Some facets of the pronunciation sounded similar, almost like a very thick accent instead of a separate language, but the niceties were lost on me.

  “He is our honored father-ruler,” Amatena said, as if she could see what I was thinking. “Although I believe in other lands you know him simply as the King of Bahairam.”

  I caught my breath and hurriedly took another look at the old man on the balcony.

  That was the King of Bahairam?!

  But why was he...?

  “Our father-ruler makes occasional tours of his kingdom. When he does so, he does us, his children, the honor of letting us see him. This morning he has been so kind as to come to this eastern city.”

  “Huh...”

  “Father-ruler” and “children,” huh?

  So in this country, the king was literally seen as “father of the people.” And the citizens, I supposed, were all seen to be equals as his children.

  “Amatena... Is this what you wanted to show me?”

  I looked over at the “children” and the temple and the “father-ruler.”

  I understood that the man was the King of Bahairam, but what was the point of just showing him to me? Surely, she didn’t think I would be moved to tears, fall to my knees, the moment I saw him? She couldn’t be that deluded.

  Just for an instant, I thought maybe I was going to be taken to meet him. But if so, why stop outside the temple to look at him? I assumed I would have to go inside to meet him. Or was Amatena trying to give me a sense of how much the people in this country adored their leader?