“Revolutionary, huh...?”
Amatena really was worried about the future of her country. But given her particular position and talents, there was nothing she could do about it alone.
So instead, she looked for someone like me to kidnap under the guise of strengthening control over the population, in hopes that I might bring even the slightest bit of new thinking to the country... Or was that just my overactive imagination?
“Amatena,” I said.
“Yes. What?”
“If instead of ordering me to create something that would cause the people to be more loyal to the king, you had asked me to think of something that everyone could enjoy together... I would gladly have helped.”
This time it was her turn to be silent, but she shook her head. Did she mean she wouldn’t have done that? Or that what-ifs weren’t worth talking about? Or maybe something else? I simply didn’t know.
Then Amatena said, “You should go now. If you stay here for very long, the pursuit squadron will catch up with you.”
That wouldn’t be any better for her than it would be for us. After all, Amatena had deliberately let Myusel and the others know where I was and when I would be there, and at the same time had failed to inform the research facility that my rescuers knew... And now here she was, practically seeing us off. The government would certainly consider her to be lending aid and comfort to the enemy.
Even if what she was really doing was trying to help Bahairam.
“You’re right. We’re on our way. But... really, thank you.”
Amatena stayed quiet, but she shrugged.
“And... Clara.”
“Yes...?” she asked in surprise. Maybe she had expected me to just ignore her at this point. But instead I said...
“Do you want to come with us?”
“What...?” This time Amatena looked as surprised as Clara. “Why? Why me?”
“No special reason,” I said evasively. After all, Amatena was standing right there.
I didn’t know how serious she had been, but Amatena had once threatened to kill Clara if I didn’t do what she said. It seemed clear that despite the way this society trumpeted equality of all its citizens, there was a pretty clear-cut system of status, and Clara was probably not very high on the ladder.
Amatena had enough station in this country that she could take care of herself, but I thought maybe it would be better for Clara if she came with us.
The girl was silent for a moment, thinking about it. Then she said, “Thank you very much,” and gave me the first smile I’d ever seen from her.
Whoa! Cuteness alert!
“But I’m not coming,” she said. “I’m going to stay with my sister.”
“That so?” I had sort of thought she might say that, so I wasn’t really shocked.
I nodded to Clara and then to Amatena. “We’ll be on our way, then. You both take care of yourselves.”
I turned around and was about to walk away.
“Shinichi-sama.”
I felt a tug on my arm.
It was Clara.
She was surprisingly strong.
“Uh... Wha—?”
I had turned halfway back toward her when...
Smooch.
I felt something warm and soft on my cheek.
“!#$%&~ッ?!”
My gray matter lit up in absolute astonishment.
A second later, she was sliding away from me.
“C—Clara?!”
Was this—could it be—uh—you know—that thing?! That, uh, the—!!
“You told me once that this is what you do to someone you care about, right?”
“Er, I mean, yeah, but...”
“Though you’re still second to my big sister.”
Clara’s mission to ensnare me was supposed to be over. So did that mean she was doing this freely...?
I might be second to Amatena, but didn’t that mean I was number one on her list of boys?!
Whoaaaaaaaa!!
WAS THAT REALLY A GIRL’S FIRST CONFESSION OF LOVE FOR ME?!
My internal monologue was going nuts, but Amatena sounded characteristically unimpressed.
“You should get going, and soon. Everyone’s waiting for you.”
“Y-Yeah, sure.”
Still feeling shaken and stirred, I obediently headed back to the Faldra. Jogging alongside me, Minori-san looked at me with her eyes half-closed behind her glasses.
“Gosh, Shinichi-kun. We put our lives on the line to rescue you, and it turns out you’ve already got yourself a little wife here?”
“Huh? No, we’re not—”
“And so young!
“I told you, she isn’t—”
“What will Her Majesty think?!” Minori-san was practically chortling as we jumped aboard the Faldra.
“No! You can’t—”
“Shinichi-sama...” Now Myusel was looking at me with brimming eyes. “Is it... Is it possible we’ve...” She could hardly bring herself to look at me. “Have we done the wrong thing by rescuing you?”
“Don’t take this so seriously, Myusel!” I said, starting to sound a little desperate. “You do know I was about to have a spike pounded into my brain, don’t you?!”
“Time for liftoff!”
Thankfully, Loek interrupted us with a change of subject. Myusel, still not looking very sure, started chanting a spell that put wind under the Faldra’s wings and started lifting us into the air.
“Big Sis Ama!” Elvia called from the mech’s back.
Amatena squinted up at us. Despite impulsively calling to her sister, Elvia didn’t quite seem to know how to follow up. “Um... Uh...” she said, looking at her sister with a pained expression.
Instead it was Amatena who spoke. “Show your face around here sometimes,” she said. “Big Sister Jiji will want to see you. And Father and Mother, too.”
“Uh...” Elvia looked shocked for a moment, but then she said, “I will!” and waved to her sister, a huge grin on her face and her tail wagging wildly.
At last the Faldra got some altitude, took one big turn, and picked up speed.
Amatena and Clara grew smaller and smaller in the distance, but Elvia kept craning her neck farther, always looking in their direction.
“Right,” Minori-san said with a bit of a sigh. “Now we can finally go home to Eldant.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. It was funny: I had been dragged here basically against my will, but now I didn’t really feel homesick for Japan. It was Eldant I was eager to get back to—even though I had only been away for about two weeks.
Why? It had to be because of all the people who were there.
People like Myusel. Minori-san. Petralka. Elvia. Brooke. Cerise. Everyone at the school...
For me, it really was “going home.”
I pointed to the blue sky and shouted, “Destination: Eldant. Full speed ahead!”
“Right!” Loek and Romilda nodded in unison, and the Faldra accelerated even more.
And with the sudden rush of air across its back.................................... I nearly fell off.
Epilogue: Cultural Invasion Redux
Actually arriving home presented its own challenges.
They started at the mansion that served as Amutech’s headquarters. Brooke and Cerise met me at the door.
“Good t’ see y’ again, Master.”
The two lizardmen looked exactly the same as always, which immediately gave me a comforting feeling of ahh, I’m back......... Kind of.
“Uh... Brooke?”
“Yessir.”
“What’s with the sword?” I asked, looking at the blade in his left hand. It was still in its sheathe, but from the workmanship, it was obviously a real weapon. The kind of undistinguished item a soldier might be issued to carry into battle.
Yes, I was aware Brooke had once been a famous hero, but when I thought about it, I realized I had never seen him with a weapon.
“Aherm.”
He gave the sword
to Cerise, then knelt in front of me, like a condemned criminal awaiting judgment.
“It was m’ own inattention that allowed those villains to get close enough to this mansion to capture you, sir.”
“...Huh?”
“You’d be within your rights to have my head, Master. But I’ve a wife now, and t’aint just my own life anymore. I beg of you to show mercy and take only an arm or leg, or maybe—”
“I don’t need to take anything!” I cried. What was he, a member of the yakuza? Heck, even they usually settled for just a finger! Anyway, cutting off Brooke’s appendages wasn’t going to make me happy! It wouldn’t do anything for me!
“Just forget about it!” I insisted.
“Y’ mean you’ll be merciful to me?”
“Yes! Merciful! Magnanimous, forgiving, whatever you want! Cerise, don’t raise that sword like that! You’re scaring me!” While I had been talking (?) with Brooke, Cerise had raised the sword above her head like she was about to help Brooke commit ritual suicide.
“Brooke, you’re not even officially my bodyguard!”
“That is true,” the lizardman said, looking up. “Do you mean y’ intend to cut off Minori-sama’s arm instead?”
“No, I don’t!” I shouted, holding my head. Intercultural communication could be real tricky sometimes...
As this commotion was going on in front of the house, a contingent of knights and a carriage from Eldant Castle arrived for us. Maybe Loek and Romilda, who had left earlier, had told them we were back. In any event, we were pretty much forced to make an immediate appearance at the castle.
“Shinichi!” A familiar voice greeted me the moment I walked into the audience chamber.
It was Petralka. The loli(-looking) empress was, as always, seated on a huge throne that dwarfed her small body.
“It is you, isn’t it?! You aren’t hurt?!”
“Your Majesty...”
She had almost jumped to her feet when I came in, but slowly sat back down at the urging of Garius, her knight and trusted confidant. She’s so cute. And it made me happy to realize she had been worried about me, too.
But I’m definitely not the empress’s lover, okay?
I decided to keep the thought to myself.
Petralka coughed once, then shifted to face me and Minori-san again.
“We welcome you back, Shinichi,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And Minori, you’ve done well to bring him home.”
“It was my pleasure, Your Majesty. But I wasn’t the only one,” Minori-san said with a soft smile. “Myusel, Elvia, and Loek and Romilda were all crucial. Those last two in particular—I know you might wish to reprimand them, but please remember that they’re both young, and be merciful.”
“We understand,” Petralka said, smiling drily. She nodded at her advisors, who were lined up in attendance around the audience chamber. I could make out an elf and a dwarf among them, probably Loek’s and Romilda’s dads.
“Although they acted on their own accord, as a result of their adventure one of Bahairam’s puppet drake research centers has been effectively destroyed. They’re heroes, although they must be so secretly.”
The elf and dwarf councilors both nodded appreciatively at this.
“Shinichi. Everyone was worried about you.”
“I’m glad to know that, really,” I said. My time as a private security guard had given me an appreciation of how special it was to have someone who wasn’t even a blood relation be concerned about you.
“We believe a feast celebrating your safe return is in order!” Petralka said. She was in high spirits.
“Oh, no, you don’t have to... I mean, I’m sorry, but I’d really like to rest a little. To be honest, I’m exhausted.”
“Hmm. And well you might be. Very well, we shall postpone the feast to another time.”
So apparently there was no getting out of the feast itself. Not that I really minded...
“If instead there should be any token of appreciation that you wish, you need only say it. Food or drink or anything.”
“Thanks,” I said, but it just felt like a social nicety.
After a moment, something occurred to me. “Say, Petralka?”
“What is it?”
“There is one thing I’d like to ask for.”
“Hm?”
She leaned forward, her eyes sparkling; Garius and Prime Minister Zahar, who was also standing by the throne, exchanged a look. They knew from experience that I must be planning something.
“Well, not so much ask... Consider it a suggestion.”
Amatena’s words came back to me:
“I believed that someone like you was absolutely necessary to the future of this country.”
“For all the beating and shouting we gave her, we were unable to change Elvia. Not us her sisters, not her parents. Perhaps it only shows that such things lack the power to change people.”
Amatena had wanted to change Bahairam. Not by revolution or open rebellion or anything violent like that. She was, in her own way, afraid for her nation’s future. Not so much about the imposition of worldview, the trimming away of luxuries, or even the totalitarian rule—she saw Bahairam heading down a collectivist path that she didn’t like.
And what about me? Was there anything I could do? Some small act of resistance I could contribute to a culture and worldview in danger of becoming closed off?
“I recommend a cultural invasion of Bahairam.”
That sent a real shock through the audience chamber.
A month had passed since Shinichi had returned to the Eldant Empire.
I had finished work and was just arriving home when I saw something exceedingly unusual: a package addressed to me. And one not sent through channels, at that.
Most likely it had been passed from hand to hand. The wooden box was filthy, and the sender had not included their name. Frankly, I was impressed it had reached me at all. Written across the top was “A curse be upon whoever breaks this seal without permission,” but this was mostly a conceit. Very few people actually bothered to curse their mail. Although there was no shortage of lowlifes who might try to open other people’s letters and packages.
I opened the box and looked inside. It appeared to be full of books, a whole pile of them. Folded neatly on top was a single sheet of paper.
I opened the paper and spent a moment staring at the characters inscribed on it.
I was shaken out of my reverie by the ringing of the doorbell.
“Who’s there?”
The familiar voice of my subordinate answered: “It’s Clara, Big Sister.”
I stood and went to the entryway and invited her in. Her respect for me as my subordinate was of course dictated by our professional positions, but Clara graciously had enough personal respect for me as well that she often came over after work, where we would share meals or pass the time in trifling conversation.
Clara looked at me. Then she suddenly asked, “Is something going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing. You simply... somehow...”
Such hesitation was unusual for Clara.
“I somehow what?” I urged her. I was genuinely curious.
“You somehow seem... happy.”
“Happy? Happy... Hmm.” I shook my head slowly, but then thought of the piece of paper I was holding. I held it out to her. “Perhaps it’s on account of this.”
“A letter, sister?”
“An unofficial one,” I said
“May I?”
I nodded. “Be my guest.”
It wasn’t just all right for Clara to see this letter. I felt almost obliged to show it to her. After all, she had been rather fond of that man herself.
Clara looked shocked. “This is—”
“Yes. From Shinichi.”
More specifically, someone had translated what Shinichi had written into our language. Elvia didn’t know how to read or write, so he must have had some Eldant
scholar do it.
“The contents of this box come from him as well.”
Clara looked inside, mystified.
“This is the ‘otaku culture’ that has so enamored the Eldant empress. It seems they call it manga.”
I took out one of the books and showed it to Clara. I flipped through it; it appeared to depict some kind of story via pictures, presented at great density and over an absurd number of pages. Just thinking about how much time and effort must have gone into the creation of this single volume was enough to make me feel faint myself.
“Huh...” Clara breathed, looking at the manga. I wasn’t sure quite what the sound meant. Perhaps she was mystified by it. I couldn’t blame her.
“But why would he send such a thing to you, Big Sister?” she asked, shaking her head.
An excellent question. “If you read the letter, I think it will become clear,” I said, taking the piece of paper back from her. “He claims these are samples of merchandise to be offered on the black market.”
“B-Black market?”
“In essence, he wants to smuggle them.”
Clara looked at the so-called “manga,” unimpressed. Perhaps she felt we couldn’t trust Shinichi’s motives. But...
“If instead of ordering me to create something that would cause the people to be more loyal to the King, you had asked me to think of something that everyone could enjoy together... I would gladly have helped.”
Shinichi’s parting words came back to me. Deep down, he was a bold and eccentric clown. That was why I doubted there was any hidden motive in this illegal offering. If anything, I suspected he just believed that these books would bring everyone the most joy.
And that was good enough.
It was good, period.
Boldness and eccentricity: these were things that, in our rush to strengthen the country, we had forgotten—or perhaps deliberately cast aside. They were the leaves and branches we had cut down in our fervent attempt to strengthen the trunk of the great tree called the future.
Outbreak Company: Volume 5 Page 18
