Outbreak Company: Volume 12

by Ichiro Sakaki

  Chapter One: Marriage? Well, that Came Out of Left Field

  The room was dead silent. How silent? My breathing and the beating of my heart seemed impossibly loud in my own ears.

  The population density at our mansion wasn’t exactly high to begin with. We had a house with more than twenty rooms, and all of seven people to fill it—two of whom often weren’t even there. Quiet was the norm around here. Honestly, for a twenty-first-century Japanese person like me, this house was almost too big to handle.

  The silence that seemed to freeze everything around me at this moment, though—it was something different. Because I wasn’t alone. There was someone else in the room with me.

  I was in my office. The walls were crammed with bookshelves overflowing with manga and light novels and picture collections and anime DVDs. The desk in my office was a big, sturdy piece of furniture, much too heavy to move by myself. The overall look of the place was sort of medieval European, making the manga and (etc. etc.), along with shelves devoted to figures of anime and game characters, stand out all the more.

  Well, the room did belong to an otaku.

  As I sat at the desk working, a lone young woman stood across from me in the doorway of the room. She wore a deep-navy dress under a white apron, and long, flaxen hair framed her face. She was crowned with that epitome of maid-ness, the frilly headband. No matter how you cut it, she was for sure a real and true maid-san. She had an open, honest face and perfect features which, combined with that outfit (the picture of purity itself) made for a deeply affecting impression.

  Myusel Fourant. Maid of this mansion.

  For a no-account son of the common class like me, a real maid—not a cosplayer at some convention or café—might as well have belonged to the realm of fantasy already, but Myusel went the extra mile: her ears were pointed. She belonged to that tribe that looks so nearly human, but isn’t quite—the elves. Myusel was a half-elf, the offspring of an elf and a human.

  A half-elf, a maid, and gorgeous to boot. She ticked all the moe boxes, was like the ultimate moe weapon, and ever since she had brought me my afternoon tea a few moments ago, she had just been standing there. I had work I really needed to get done, so I didn’t spend long chatting with her, but instead of just turning and leaving like she usually did, she had been watching me from the doorway.

  A long moment. I didn’t say anything. She didn’t say anything. I listened to my breathing and my heartbeat a little more.

  This felt... weird.

  Myusel wasn’t, like, staring me down or anything; she had a sort of smile on her face. In fact, she was looking at me with genuine kindness, but still... having someone just look at me, even look at me nicely, was starting to weird me out.

  What was going on?

  Now that I thought about it, ever since Amatena and Clara, a couple of soldiers from the neighboring kingdom of Bahairam, had hidden out at our house, I’d felt like Myusel had been acting different somehow. It was like... she was spending more time around me. She would give me whatever she had brought, or clean whatever needed to be cleaned, but then she would just sort of hang around.

  She was still getting all her work done, and done well, so it wasn’t up to me to tell her how to use her free time. But this...

  Hmmm...

  Not to brag, but the number of years I have not had a girlfriend is exactly equal to the number of years I’ve been alive. That’s just the kind of otaku I am. So being alone with a beautiful young woman like Myusel—if you asked whether I felt more happy or more kind of embarrassed about it, I think embarrassed would win by a nose.

  Hey... I am alone with a beautiful young woman here.

  Was it just me overthinking things that I felt like Myusel was going out of her way to make this time together?

  “H-Hey, uh, Myusel?”

  “Yes?”

  “Can I ask, uh, what you’re doing?”

  “What?” For a second, she glanced shyly at the ground. “Oh, er, I’m just... waiting on you, Shinichi-sama.”

  Waiting? Waiting... W-A-I-T-I-N-G. Hmmm.

  Well, okay, so the dictionary definition she had in mind was probably the one that goes “to attend to a person of higher status,” or “to be present and ready to act,” so I guess it didn’t seem strange to her. But in this context, I definitely most associated that word with the expression “to make a beautiful woman wait on you,” and I couldn’t quite let go of the idea. And why did Myusel look so flustered about it?

  Arrgh! All right, self, calm down.

  “U—Um, Shinichi-sama?” Myusel’s expression suddenly darkened. “Am I bothering you...?”

  “Huh? No, no!” I was suddenly slammed by a feeling of guilt. Myusel’s anxious expression—a look that suggested she might burst into tears the very next moment—really tugged at my heartstrings somehow. “No, you’re not. Definitely not. I swear you’re not.” I shook my head vigorously. “It’s just... I’m worried you’ll get bored, hanging around me with nothing to do...”

  “Perish the thought,” Myusel said, shaking her head almost as hard as I had. “Just being with you, Shinichi-sama, is—” Her voice got stronger and stronger, but suddenly she stopped, putting her hands to her chest, as if to say her heart was full to overflowing. Her eyes kept drifting to the ground, and there was a little flush in her cheeks.

  Yiiikes... That’s totally unfair, Myusel.

  With those gestures and that expression, I was practically— I was already—

  Hey, calm down, self. Myusel is just—

  Half-elves faced a lot of discrimination. So she felt a lot of gratitude to me, as someone who not only didn’t discriminate against half-elves, but was positively moe about them. But it was gratitude, not love. Of course not.

  Once, long ago, I’d badly, and very embarrassingly, misjudged my relationship with an old friend. To her, we were just that—old friends. But I got it into my head that she liked me, you know, as a guy. Forgetting that as far as most of the world was concerned, I was “sick.” A “weirdo.” In short: an otaku.

  That experience left me with very little confidence in matters of love—and even less in stuff that looked like nothing more than a happy fantasy. I had virtually no confidence at all, but... and yet... was this... could it be... just... maybe?

  Arrgh, I’ll never get any work done this way!

  But seriously, could it maybe really be?

  But, but, if I carelessly tried to find out, only to discover that it really was just another mistake on my part, I didn’t think I would recover this time. The humiliation would set me digging a hole to hide in faster than a spinning Je* Mogura, and I would probably just stay there for the rest of my life.

  But... But...!

  Are you sure about this, Shinichi?! She’s a half-elf, a maid, obviously beautiful, plus she’s got the twintails, and the clumsy-but-upbeatness, and she’s a great cook, and she’s very diligent, and she knows how to dress (can’t believe I saw her in a swimsuit once!!), and—if you let this perfect girl get away now, there might never be another... another chance...!

  I knew it was a little late to be thinking about all this, but once the thoughts started, I couldn’t stop them. My heart kept pounding faster and faster. My brain kept revving harder and harder, but it wasn’t in gear.

  I found myself standing up from my desk and going over to Myusel. I couldn’t just sit there. I didn’t know exactly what to do, but I had to do something.

  “Shinichi-sama...?” She blinked her big eyes, lavender like jewels. Were they brimming just a little bit, or was that my imagination?

  “Myusel...” I stopped in front of her. We were so close, we could feel each other’s breathing.

  Myusel was sort of caugh
t between me and the wall. “.........Shinichi-sama...” But when she looked up at me, there was no fear or disgust. In fact, she glanced away again, her cheeks flushing, and then she summoned her resolve and looked straight at me. I was glad to know she wasn’t upset with us standing here like this. Probably. I was pretty sure. I didn’t think.

  So... okay, was it time for, you know? The kabe-don? The wall thump? Not the Mom-bring-me-food! one, but the one that Reals used to show they knew what they wanted? The legendary, the famous... Was now the time?! Was Gaia whispering to me, Become a Real!?

  Should I just sweep her delicate body up in my arms and—

  “Shinichiiiiii!!”

  It only lasted an instant. The silence surrounding us was shattered by someone shouting so loud I thought the roof would cave in, followed by my office door being opened hard enough it threatened to fly off its hinges.

  Which naturally meant...

  “Hrgh?!”

  ...that I, standing right by the door, took a huge slab of aged wood square in the jaw. I went tumbling to the ground, away from Myusel.

  “Shinichi-sama?!” I could hear Myusel exclaiming in concern. I guess she must not have been hurt. Phew. That was good. If you’re all right, Myusel, then I’m content. Even if this does hurt like a b—

  Yes! Yes, I know. I’m not exactly cut out to be the star of some romantic drama.

  Stupid God, this is all your fault!

  ...Okay, wait.

  “Wh-What the heck?”

  “Is Shinichi here?! ...Oh, Shinichi. What are you doing there?”

  Into my room burst a diminutive young woman, walking with an authority you could practically hear. Her long hair was a pure silver color, her skin as white as porcelain, her features finely formed. She was lovely, but not ostentatious. As delicate as a doll. A tiara of gold and rubies sat on her head, so appropriate it almost looked like a part of her.

  She was so short, she wouldn’t have looked out of place wearing an elementary-schooler’s backpack, but she was actually seventeen years old.

  Petralka an Eldant III: the Empress of the Holy Eldant Empire, the country I was now living in. Maybe the word “princess” would have fit her vibe better, but she was really and truly Her Majesty the Empress, and that was that.

  She was also, as it happened, my boss.

  Specifically, she was one of the investors in Amutech, general entertainment company and parallel-world first.

  But anyway, moving on...

  “What am I doing? Just being painfully reminded of my place in life,” I said, sketching aimlessly on the floor with my fingertip.

  “Hm?” Petralka looked at me curiously for a minute, then spotted Myusel standing in shock by the wall. “...Myusel.”

  “Y-Yes, Your Majesty.” She sounded a little panicked.

  “What was he doing?” Petralka asked, her eyes narrowing.

  “‘What’? Er, uh, n-nothing in particular...”

  The empress didn’t say anything, but she looked back and forth between me and Myusel as if she had her suspicions.

  Finally the loli-looking empress said, “Ah, very well,” and sighed.

  ◎

  The Holy Eldant Empire: the very first nation with which Japan made contact... in another world.

  The place is technically contiguous with Japan, connected to the country by a hyperspace wormhole tunnel. The culture is pretty close to that of the Middle Ages Europe, and most of the people look like what we would consider Western Europeans.

  Notice I said most. One of the most striking differences from our world is that in this one, there are elves, dwarves, and beast people, just walking around like it’s no big deal. They have dragons and spirits, and what’s really crazy is you can use magic here. Again, it’s just part of normal, everyday life to these people. In a word, it’s pretty much the sort of fantasy world we would only usually encounter in manga or anime or games or whatever.

  The Japanese government decided that in order to foster friendly relations with the Holy Eldant Empire, they would do pretty much what they did with “Cool Japan”—export Japan’s world-famous entertainment products to this new place. And to get the stuff over there, they established Amutech, a parallel-world-first entertainment company. But a company has to have a manager, and they picked me—Kanou Shinichi.

  Wellll... It did turn out that Amutech was nothing but a front for a plan of cultural invasion, and when I found out and raised a stink, Japan did try to assassinate me. Let’s just say a lot has happened. But anyway.

  “So, Petralka...”

  We had moved from my office into the living room. I might have been busy, but Petralka was my employer. I couldn’t just boot her out without so much as a pleasant hello. Amutech was actually funded equally by investment from the Japanese and Eldant governments, so the empress technically owned half the company. For that matter, she also owned the house I was staying in.

  “What brings you here?” I asked. “I didn’t think you were getting out of the castle much these days.”

  Petralka raised her cup and took an elegant sip of tea. Not long after I had arrived here, Petralka had been held hostage in a terrorist incident involving a group called Bedouna, a.k.a the Assembly of Patriots. As you can tell by the fact that I’m still talking about her, the terrorists were safely subdued and Petralka was rescued—but the Eldant monarch had never been captured by an anti-government force before. Obviously, some of the responsibility fell on her bodyguards and the people who managed the empire’s security, but Petralka also found she was not as free to leave the castle as she had once been. Once upon a time, she would routinely stop by my mansion or the school for a visit with just two or three escorts, but not anymore.

  “But here we are. Are you suggesting we cannot drop in on you?” Petralka puffed out her cheeks poutily. It was really awfully cute, and made me just want to give her a hug and pat her on the head. But considering how sensitive Petralka was about her youthful looks, saying the wrong thing could get her really upset, even if you meant it well. And an angry empress could, in theory, mean losing your head on a charge of lèse-majesté.

  “No, of course you can, but...”

  “We have been careful to bring bodyguards with us. Including some magic users. Any ordinary attacker would be repelled instantaneously.”

  “She’s telling the truth—I see five people waiting outside,” Koganuma Minori-san reported, looking out the window. She was a few years older than me, and wore a uniform and glasses; she was my bodyguard and our resident WAC. She was a real peach with a sweet look and easygoing attitude. The kind of person you took one look at and said, “Oh, okay, a warm-and-fuzzy older-sister type.” But you might not guess that she was a capable sniper and a killer hand-to-hand fighter.

  One thing about her appearance stood out more than any other, though, and it was that D-cup (or was that E- or F-cup? Or G- or H-? How far did these letters go?), bouncy, jouncy, outrageous chest. But just forget about that for now.

  “It looks like Garius-san isn’t with you, though?”

  If he had been, I assumed he would have come into the house with her. Garius en Cordobal was Petralka’s cousin and a major player in the Eldant Empire, charged with overseeing military matters and the police. His silver hair and emerald eyes made it obvious at a glance that he was Petralka’s blood relative, but on top of that he was awfully handsome, and smart to boot. In Japan we say “Heaven doesn’t give two gifts,” but this guy seemed to have gotten three or four.

  “Ooh, Shinichi-kun, eager to see Garius-san? Well well well well well well well!” Minori-san leaned toward me, looking inordinately pleased.

  She was, I should be clear, highly reliable and totally someone you could count on, but she also had a nasty habit of trying to fix me up with Garius, the product of a particular proclivity of hers. Namely, she was a fujoshi, and sweet man-on-man romance was her moe of choice. Everything Garius and I said or did seemed to reach her through that filter.

  Actu
ally, in Garius’s case specifically, she hardly needed a filter half the time—he was right there with her. It could make things more complicated than they had to be.

  “I’m not eager to see him,” I said with a sigh. “It’s just that if he were in command of the bodyguards, I could understand why there are so few of them.”

  But without Garius, five people didn’t seem like nearly enough for Her Majesty to be out and about with. I mean, I knew she couldn’t have fifty or a hundred people with her all the time like some kind of feudal daimyo, but still.

  I turned to Petralka. “Does this mean something came up in a hurry?” That might explain it: she just didn’t have time to get a whole entourage together. But...

  “No, we would not say that,” Petralka replied calmly, taking another sip of her drink.

  “Huh? Don’t tell me you just snuck out of the castle?”

  “How can you use such language, Shinichi? The Empress goes where she pleases!” Petralka said with a frown.

  “Well, sure, but...” If the empress had gone where she pleased without letting anyone know, Garius was probably going nuts looking for her right about now. “Garius-san isn’t going to be angry?”

  I could imagine those handsome features, the very picture of beauty, with a manga-style throbbing vein at the forehead. Petralka might have been the empress, but Minister Garius en Cordobal was sort of an older brother to her. He was just about the only person I had ever seen rebuke Petralka in public, and if she was out here on her own volition, with no thought for security or safety, Garius was probably very, very upset.

  Much like he had been when Petralka had stowed away with me on my trip to Japan.

  So I sat there worrying, but:

  “Ye of little faith, Shinichi. Of course, we’ve received Garius’s permission.” Petralka gave me a little snort.

  “He agreed to this?”

  “Indeed.”

  “Is he feeling okay?”

  “He’s quite well.” Petralka nodded nonchalantly and set her tea cup on the table.

  I hadn’t seen that coming. Garius tended to be, if anything, a little too crazed about Petralka’s safety. I was sure he was honestly concerned about her—not to mention that if anything happened to Petralka, for political reasons he would be a prime suspect (after all, he was next in line for the throne), and it would help keep his name clear if he was known to be fanatical about her security.