Outbreak Company: Volume 12

by Ichiro Sakaki

  Okay, say Petralka was in love with Kanou Shinichi. And say Shinichi and his servant were, uh, well, you know... And then say that Myusel, in a fit of desperation, kills them both. What then? What then...?

  “Her Majesty becomes that much more receptive to a marriage with Prince Rubert,” Hikaru-san concluded.

  I caught my breath. So Zwelberich really was behind this? But even all this was just speculation—we didn’t have any proof. The important thing now was to get to the castle and tell Petralka and the others about this. Whether or not Zwelberich was involved, a VIP of the Eldant Empire had been the subject of an attempted assassination, and that was almost certainly something the government needed to know.

  As I was thinking all this, though...

  “Um...” Elvia cocked her head as if she had just realized something.

  “What is it, Elvia?”

  “Is... Is this the right way?”

  “Huh?”

  “I don’t go to the castle all that much. Maybe I’m just getting mixed up—but aren’t we supposed to come out of the woods eventually?”

  That got me to look out the window. She was right: I would have been expecting to see the city come into view about now, but all I saw was trees shrouded by the darkness of evening. I edged up out of my seat to get a better look—

  “Yikes!”

  The carriage rocked violently. Everyone else was fine—they were still in their seats—but it threw me back, on top of Myusel.

  “Woopf!” I felt myself caught by something soft.

  Soft? That had to be...

  “Eep! S-Sorry...” I managed, scrambling away from her.

  “N-No, it’s all right...” Myusel said, looking studiously at the ground.

  I could still feel the brush of her chest against my cheek. She wasn’t, y’know, huge, but you weren’t going to miss that there were two gentle hills there, and I’d had my face pressed right up against them.

  Ohhh... Ahhh...

  As I trembled with emotion, Hikaru-san regarded me with a mixture of awe and fear. “Shinichi-san... Going for the lucky-perv thing even at a time like this... Truly, you are a force to be reckoned with...!”

  “I wasn’t going for anything,” I protested. “It was an accident! I’m innocent!”

  And I was innocent, but that was starting to seem less and less important, because the carriage wouldn’t stop shaking. In fact, it was getting worse. We each looked around for something to grab hold of so we wouldn’t be thrown out of our seats.

  “Wh-What the heck’s goin’ on?!” Elvia cried. Thanks to her tail, she could keep her footing even with the carriage pitching and rocking, and now she went over to the window that looked out of the passenger compartment at the driver’s bench.

  I heard her gasp. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “There’s no driver!”

  “Huh?!”

  How could that be?! Elvia helped hold me up as I stretched to peer through the window. And she was right: the driver’s bench was empty. Plus, the huge birds that normally pulled our carriage sedately along had obviously gone berserk. Hence all the shaking. And on top of that, the reins had been cut so we couldn’t easily get the birds back under control. Someone had been very thorough.

  This was bad. It looked like things were genuinely out of control. Then...

  “Shinichi-sama! This is real bad!”

  “I think things are already pretty bad! You mean there’s something worse?”

  “We’re headed for a cliff!”

  “Hrk...?!”

  Werewolves have excellent night vision, so Elvia was able to see where we were going better than the rest of us.

  Minori-san acted quickly. “No choice—!” She swept the inside of the carriage with a glance, then gave the doors a kick. I didn’t know whether it had more to do with strength or technique, but they flew open with a crash. It almost looked like they had been ripped clean off, and outside, I could see the nighttime forest whipping by at an incredible pace.

  “We have to jump!”

  “Jump?! You mean from in here to—to out there?!” The incredulous question came from Hikaru-san.

  His reaction was only natural. Our carriage was moving at a serious clip. It’s not like we had a speedometer, but I would have guessed we were doing around 50 kilometers an hour—almost as fast as a car. We weren’t exactly going to be landing on asphalt, but breaking bones if we came down wrong was still a definite possibility. And, considering the likelihood that those bones could be our spines or our skulls, a very worrying one.

  Then again, this seemed like a better option than simply plunging off a cliff.

  “Myusel, can you slow us down using magic? Even just for a second?” Minori-san said.

  “Y-Yes, ma’am!” Myusel quickly began chanting an incantation. When I heard it, I immediately guessed what she was planning to do. It was that familiar spell, Tifu Murottsu. That wasn’t a surprise; Myusel didn’t know that many different spells. But she wasn’t going to use it the normal way this time. The source and the direction of the magic were different.

  “Tifu murottsu!” we chorused.

  As soon as I figured out Myusel’s plan, I hurried to recite the spell. We fired our magic directly forward, pitting the momentum of our spells against the rampaging carriage.

  Bam! The carriage trembled with the shock, but it also slowed down visibly. We had each dropped Tifu Murottsu about a meter in front of us, something that would normally have been suicidal. But in this case, the two wind blasts had the effect of killing the carriage’s speed.

  “Now!” Minori-san shouted.

  “A-Are you sure about this?” Hikaru-san said, still obviously hesitant. And who could blame him? Even slowed down, the carriage was still going at a pretty good rate. Not to mention, Hikaru-san was wearing one of his fluffy, frilly Goth-loli dresses, which probably wouldn’t make it any easier to land.

  Unfortunately for him, we didn’t have time to dither. That cliff was still coming at us alarmingly fast.

  “Elvia!” I shouted. I had been in a very similar situation once, back in Japan. It had taught me, among other things, that werewolves had the agility to leap from one moving car to another. And Elvia, who had been the werewolf in question, immediately understood what I was asking her to do. She grabbed Hikaru-san in her arms.

  “Don’t mind me, Hikaru-sama!”

  “Huh? Eeyipes!”

  Hikaru-san’s shout trailed away as Elvia jumped out of the carriage, Goth-loli boy and all. She landed—but not on the ground. The incredible strength of her legs allowed her to leap several meters. She planted both feet against the trunk of the tree beside the road, absorbing most of the impact before dropping delicately to the ground.

  Yep. That’s what I’d been hoping for. Myusel, Minori-san, and I followed her out of the carriage. We didn’t have a beast girl to carry us, and we certainly didn’t have Elvia’s physical prowess, but we each rolled as best we could, and combined with the reduced speed of the carriage, we managed to make it out without breaking any bones. Although I managed to hit my back on a rock in the ground at the very last minute, so that hurt a bit.

  “Gnnrrr...”

  “Shinichi-sama, are you all right?!” Myusel jumped to her feet and came running over to me.

  “F-Fine, thanks.” I took her hand and let her help me up. Minori-san was already on her feet, her gun drawn, looking this way and that. Not far away, Hikaru-san was upright but leaning on Elvia for support. I guess our little stunt had taken the wind out of his sails.

  “What about the carriage?!” I said.

  We all looked in the direction of our runaway ride—just in time to see it disappear from view. It went right over the cliff.

  I ran over to look down after it. It was about seven or eight meters to the bottom. Below, I could see the smashed carriage—and the birds who had been pulling it. To my surprise, the two of them were flapping around energetically. They might not have been able to fly, but I guess the
y were still birds—lighter than they looked. And good for them. Oxen or horses would certainly have broken a lot of bones in that fall. Maybe somebody slipped the birds some drugs or something to work them up; in any event, I didn’t see myself wanting to get close to them as they thrashed and kicked.

  One thing was clear: if we had stayed on that carriage, that would have been it for us.

  “Why did they go crazy...?” Myusel said fearfully, coming up beside us and looking over the edge of the cliff. “And what happened to our driver?”

  Minori-san came over to us. “Whoever did this was either posing as our driver to begin with, or took their place somewhere along the way. They must have either poisoned the birds or put a spell on them, then jumped off the carriage and hid somewhere.”

  “So it was supposed to look like an accident?” I mused.

  “Most likely.”

  Wait a second...

  “Accidental” deaths were a pretty effective assassination method in that they didn’t leave a lot of evidence, but they lacked the certainty of poisoning or stabbing your target. I mean, look at us: we’d managed to escape. The birds pulling the carriage weren’t even dead. Meaning...

  “You think the culprit is around here, waiting to make sure they got us?”

  “Shinichi-sama!” Elvia, still holding onto Hikaru-san, shouted. “There was somebody over there, just now!”

  Myusel made to run in the direction Elvia indicated, but Minori-san grabbed her hand. “Myusel, you stay here.”

  “B-But...” Her face was bright red. I had hardly ever seen this before—but it looked like she was furious. “That fortune-teller—that woman—sh-she made me... I nearly...”

  “I know how you must feel, but we’re dealing with a professional here,” Minori-san said quickly. “And you’ve seen her face, so she’ll be especially eager to rub you out. Let me handle this!” Then she made sure she had a firm grip on her pistol and started running.

  “Minori-sama—!”

  “Myusel, Elvia, you stay with the boys, keep them safe!” Minori-san said, and then she disappeared into the darkness among the trees.

  A figure flitted through the woods. Its speed was impressive, given how dark it was and how many obstacles there were in the way. Whoever we were dealing with, maybe they had assumed from the start that the poison might not finish the job. Maybe they had planned this “accident” all along. Maybe they had studied the topography here, knew already where the trees grew and how best to get away from the scene of the crime as quickly as possible. Or maybe they were even using magic to allow them to see in the dark.

  Whatever their methods, I was in danger of losing them. I didn’t have any night-vision equipment.

  “Stop right there! Poosuto!” I shouted as I dashed after the fleeing figure. I was sure they could hear me, but, thinking they might be outside the effective range of the magic ring, I added the command in Eldant as well. Although we called it that for convenience’s sake, the language shared its basic grammar and primary vocabulary with the languages of several of the surrounding countries, so it served as a sort of common tongue. Even if the person I was pursuing wasn’t from Eldant, there was a good chance they would understand what I was saying. Then again, there were only so many things I was likely to be shouting in this situation.

  It was all a moot point, though, because the person showed no sign of slowing down.

  “Fi uoi tonoodo poosuto ia katta uoi!” Stop or I’ll shoot!

  Now I’d given fair warning. I leveled my gun at the fleeing figure. Still they didn’t slow down. Not that I’d really expected them to. There was a good chance they didn’t even know what a gun was. Of course they wouldn’t stop because I warned them I would use one. And if they were really a professional assassin, they might not have stopped anyway.

  Okay, fine. Never make a threat you aren’t willing to carry out. I pulled the trigger on my 9-millimeter.

  It was the middle of the night, in the woods, with me trying to hit a moving target with a pistol. I knew single shots weren’t likely to land, so I switched to three-round burst fire.

  The pistol’s earsplitting report shook the chilly night. By the light of the muzzle flash, I saw the figure flop to the ground. Perfect. I’d aimed at the legs and feet, to avoid killing them.

  I moved in on my opponent, gun still at the ready. Suddenly, the figure tossed mightily across the ground. Were they trying to roll away from me? Or—

  I got a bad feeling. I pulled up my gun, which emitted a metallic screech.

  It was complete luck that I was able to block it. And by “it,” I mean the small, black bladed weapon, a sort of throwing star, that was now buried in the trunk of a nearby tree. The killer must have expected they might need to use it at night. It wouldn’t be very deadly... unless perhaps it was covered in that lizardman poison.

  Anyway, the point was made: if I didn’t approach carefully, I was likely to buy the farm. I kept working my way closer, but slowed down.

  The assassin took that opportunity to drag themselves to their feet and start running again—or rather, shuffling quickly. Clearly, they hadn’t given up hope of escape.

  I could smell blood in the air. At least one of my shots had definitely landed. Unfortunately for me, they had landed on someone who didn’t give up very easily. This enemy was earning my grudging respect—they were obviously tough stuff—but I almost had them now, and I wouldn’t give up, either.

  Could I have just shot them in the back? Sure, but I didn’t want to take the risk of killing them. We needed this assassin alive so that we could find out exactly who was behind all this. Lone wolves could be killed off and not be any more trouble, but if some organization or even some country were responsible, then they would simply send someone to replace whoever we took out.

  I worked my way along. Now that my opponent could no longer run, I didn’t have to worry about losing sight of them. I holstered my weapon, pulling on a blade-proof glove instead. This was a personal item; not standard issue. It used carbon plates and woven aramid fibers, like a bulletproof vest. I could hold a weapon by the blade, be it a cleaver or combat knife, and be completely safe. The glove was awfully thick, though, so it wasn’t easy to use a gun while wearing it.

  I took one more look to make sure of my opponent’s exact location—and then I jumped on them from behind.

  Maybe they had been expecting me to come in for some hand-to-hand fighting, because they bent forward, dodging me, then pulled something from under their cloak and thrust it out at me. A dagger, painted black so it would blend with the night.

  I dodged. Honestly, a stab with a knife from unsteady footing wasn’t likely to do a lot of harm. Sometimes such a stab could be deflected by clothing or even skin; it rarely reached the vital organs. But again, if the blade was poisoned, then even a scratch could be deadly.

  My opponent stabbed again, and then again. But their movements were simple—I could see all kinds of wasted motion, and more than anything, they didn’t commit to the strikes. Instead they came at me with a series of short jabs, maybe worried that I would grab their arm if they tried anything more serious. Of course, if they knew all they needed to do to win was to scratch their opponent, then this would be a sensible strategy.

  It was starting to look like my foe was a specialist in assassination, but not necessarily in the fighting arts. Calmly, I took a step closer. Nice and deliberate. My opponent was still jabbing at me with the knife, but I passed it using my gloved right hand—and in the same motion, I drove my now raised right elbow into my opponent’s chest.

  “Hrgh!” There was a short, sharp exhalation of breath. My opponent leaned over, and I took advantage of the movement to grab their arm. I turned in a half-spin, using my back and hips to lift them into the air, then pulling on their arm to bring them around and slam them into the ground. A classic shoulder throw.

  “Gagh!” My opponent hit the earth, gave a shout, and stopped moving.

  There are a couple reas
ons police forces and similar organizations in Japan teach their people judo instead of karate or kenpo. One is that judo throws are safer for dealing with knives than systems where you attack head-on, but most of all it’s because judo throws double as control techniques. Most people can survive being thrown once or twice, but when you hit the ground, the air goes out of your lungs and even the toughest opponent will be briefly rendered immobile.

  That didn’t mean I was going to take my eyes off my enemy, of course. I stayed in a fighting posture and watched the other person closely, but they didn’t move. Out cold, I suspected. It could be an act, a ploy to get me to lower my guard, though, so I watched very carefully as I shuffled closer, bent down, and then reached out to take off the attacker’s hood. I pulled it off in one swift motion.

  “She’s a woman...”

  Not only that, she was a woman I recognized. I didn’t know her name, but I remembered her single, long ponytail. She was Prince Rubert’s attendant, the one who appreciated a good man/man romance. It was going to be pretty hard to deny that Zwelberich was behind this now. I was sure Hikaru-kun was right—Prince Rubert wanted to take out Shinichi-kun because he was standing in the way of the prince’s marriage to the empress. A lovers’ double suicide would be a convenient excuse.

  “What a shame,” I whispered with a half-smile. Just when I had finally discovered that there were fujoshi in this world, too.

  If nothing else, though, I was starting to feel better about our situation. If she’d had any co-conspirators, they would have attacked me long ago. This would-be assassin appeared to be acting alone.

  I stood up and looked back. I thought I heard footsteps and sensed someone approaching. When the person finally emerged, though, I could only stare. “Huh?”

  It was Shinichi-kun who appeared from between the trees.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. Maybe he had come chasing after me. Out of fear for my safety, no doubt. He was awfully selfless, but by the same token, he could be pretty oblivious to the danger he was in at any given time. It was great that he was so compassionate towards everyone, but I wished he would be a little more sensitive to how bad that could make things for himself. He acted the way he did not so much out of courage, but out of a strangely low opinion of himself. And because I was his bodyguard, it was my problem.