Outbreak Company: Volume 12 Read online

  “As a matter of fact,” Petralka said, taking a bite of one of Myusel’s homemade tea cakes, “tomorrow, an ambassador from one of our allies will be arriving.”

  “An allied nation?”

  I didn’t get out of the Eldant Empire very much, so I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the political situation, but I guess if there were enemy nations like Bahairam around, it made sense that there would be friendly ones as well.

  “Some of our troops have been recalled from the provinces, and the capital city is on high alert. This moment is in fact far safer than normal for us to be away, so that even Garius cannot worry too much.”

  That made sense. You would certainly want security to be at its highest when a friendly ambassador was coming for a visit. I absently pictured an occasion when the US President had come to Japan. You could see police officers on every street corner, news reporters were constantly remarking on the heightened security, and the entire country seemed permeated by a certain anxiousness. I had to figure that things were similar in the capital city of Marinos right now. Security forces would be watching out, not just for Petralka, but for every inch of the capital; one false move would probably get you arrested, or worse.

  “He is, however, acting rather obsessed with his preparations.” Petralka was kicking her feet happily—maybe it was the feeling of freedom she was enjoying—but as she said this, her face darkened for a moment.

  ...Hm?

  So it looked like she was happy to be able to go out, but also not one hundred percent comfortable. As the absolute ruler of the Holy Eldant Empire, Petralka spent a lot of her time in a pretty suffocating environment. And now, the chains had loosened just a bit—only for her to be told, “There’s an ambassador coming. I can’t spend all my time entertaining you.” A little boring, at best. She seemed a bit like a child who couldn’t get her big brother to play with her. I knew Petralka and Garius seemed pretty close.

  Aaaaargh! Where does an empress get off being so darn cute?!

  “If there’s a visitor coming tomorrow, does that mean we should skip our morning report?”

  Normally, I went to Eldant Castle every morning to report on the current state of Amutech’s activities. Typically Petralka and Garius both attended, along with the prime minister, Zahar. But honestly, a big part of the reason I did this was so that I could have an excuse to see Petralka, who normally couldn’t leave the castle easily. It wasn’t like things changed that much overnight. Once a week or even once a month probably would have been plenty. Plus, I submitted written reports as well. Officially, my excuse was that meeting directly with the empress allowed us to gauge each other’s reactions in real time and get a clearer sense of how we were both feeling. It was as good a reason as any to go see Petralka.

  “Not a bad idea,” Minori-san said, nodding. “With a foreign ambassador coming, I’ll bet it’s not going to be quick or easy to get in the castle, and we wouldn’t want to make any slip-ups and cause an incident.”

  “No, do come,” Petralka replied. “And not just you, Shinichi. We wish Minori, Matoba, Hikaru—all the members of Amutech to be there.”

  “Huh? R-Really?”

  Petralka nodded firmly. “Truth be told, part of our reason for coming here is to bring you this request. Our visitor has personally asked to meet with you all.”

  Minori-san’s expression suddenly grew strained. “Your Majesty, are you saying—?”

  Immediately, I understood. When Minori-san got that look on her face, it meant the subject had become politically or militarily charged. Myusel, though, still looked a bit confused. She was looking back and forth between us and Petralka.

  “...You’re telling me it’s not just Bahairam. Other countries know about us, too.”

  “...Oh!” Myusel squeaked surprised. She wasn’t technically involved with Amutech’s business affairs, but by dint of living at the mansion, she had a fairly good idea of how the company was treated on the political front.

  “Our visitor let it be known, indirectly, that they were aware of an ambassador from another world who had come to this land. And that they were distinctly interested in meeting him.”

  “Sigh,” Minori-san said, but then she shrugged. “I guess we weren’t exactly keeping it a secret.”

  Spreading Japanese otaku culture here in the Eldant Empire—that was Amutech’s business. Strictly speaking, our mandate extended only to the Eldant Empire. After all, Amutech had begun as a covert vehicle of cultural invasion, and the government wanted to start by experimenting with the local nation with which they had made first contact.

  But when I rebelled against the government’s plans, I also sort of broke out of their framework. Specifically, I had suggested a pilot program for introducing otaku stuff to neighboring countries, and Petralka had gone along with the idea. As a result, Japanese entertainment products—with a few Eldant touches like translations—were trickling into other nearby countries.

  In fact, I had been captured by the Kingdom of Bahairam once in the past, after they learned of my existence and hoped to use me as a hostage. And if an enemy country had learned about me, why shouldn’t an allied one? What with the presence of trade relations and all, how could they not know about the Japanese entertainment products that were all the rage among the children of the Eldant nobility?

  The thing was, this friendly ambassador had asked to meet with us officially. That meant they saw what we were importing as more meaningful, and perhaps more valuable, than just banal foreign amusements. They wanted to talk with us because they thought our stuff could have some kind of political influence.

  One dirty little secret about this entire operation was that while it may have been underhanded of the Japanese government to use otaku goods as a tool of cultural invasion, they weren’t wrong about their effect.

  “We have been trading with this country for a long time,” Petralka said quickly, sensing the tension in the air among us. “We do not believe they will misuse anything we give them. In fact, Garius spent time there as a student.”

  “Really? He did?”

  “Indeed. Though it was when our previous emperor still reigned.”

  I didn’t know how long ago that would have been, how many years, but when someone with a connection to the imperial family goes to study in your country, it means you two must be pretty close. On top of that, “studying abroad” in a place like this wasn’t like modern-day Japan, where you might do it just for the experience. There had to be some practical benefit to taking the time and trouble. Something specific you could learn that would justify sending a person to study. That meant this allied country must have excelled in something—politics? finance? military matters?—that attracted the attention of the Eldant Empire.

  “So you see, we are not precisely in a position to refuse,” Petralka said. “We want you to come to the castle tomorrow.”

  I glanced at Minori-san, but she gave no sign of disagreeing, so I nodded. “Yeah... sure thing.”

  “Mm.” Petralka nodded in satisfaction, then finished her tea. Myusel promptly poured more into the empty cup.

  “But did you really need to come all this way and tell us about this yourself, Petralka?” I asked. She could have just sent a messenger, I thought. Or for that matter, she could have just not said anything at all, and we would have shown up at the castle as usual the next morning.

  “What?” Petralka asked, pursing her lips. “Are you dissatisfied that we have come to inform you?”

  “No... Not, uh, dissatisfied at all...”

  “Are we intruding upon you? Interrupting you?” Petralka eyed Myusel. “Interrupting a liaison with your maid, perhaps?”

  “Nope! Uh-uh! Not it!” I shook my head violently.

  “Then there is no problem.” Petralka crossed her legs and looked away.

  Huh. Is she... pouting?

  “I thought maybe you had dropped by for... you know, just a visit.”

  Petralka had managed to turn the ambassador’s immin
ent arrival into an opportunity for a rare trip out of the castle. If she had chosen to spend that hard-won time with us... Well, that would make me very happy.

  “A-An empress does not just ‘visit.’” Petralka still wasn’t looking at me, but she sounded a little less sure of herself. And was that a blush I saw in her cheeks? “We have a great many important matters to attend to.”

  “Sure, of course. You’re right.”

  “But, well... ahem.” Petralka seemed to have to force the words out a little. “Once in a while, even an empress needs a moment’s respite.”

  “Sure,” I said again. I was glad to hear it.

  ◎

  We spent a couple of hours in an aimless, pleasant chat before Petralka went back to the castle, accompanied by her bodyguards.

  “Mmm...” I came back to my office to resume my interrupted work. I was busy typing out a summary of my report. I liked writing well enough—maybe it had to do with having a light-novel author for a dad—but having to stick to a prescribed format, to just do paperwork, was kind of a pain in the neck.

  As a point of interest, because the reports I created were submitted to both the Eldant authorities and the Japanese government, every single one of them had to be done twice, in the preferred format of the respective bureaucrats. In addition to the papers I submitted, the Japanese side also got written documents from Matoba-san and Minori-san, among others.

  “...Ooof...”

  My shoulders were starting to get really stiff. I stretched in my chair. This wasn’t exactly hard physical labor, but I could still feel it in my poor body. Physical work left you feeling warm all over, but the fatigue from desk jockeying like this felt like your entire body cooling down, gradually seizing up. You had to be sure to work yourself out every now and again, or you could get to where you were so frozen that one wrong move could result in a torn muscle. I needed a break. Yeah, that would be good for me.

  Just then, almost as if on cue, I heard a knock at my door. “Shinichi-sama, it’s Myusel. I brought tea.”

  “Thanks, come on in,” I said. Myusel entered with a tea cart. She stopped beside me, taking a tea cake and saucer from the cart and putting them on my desk. The cake was like a sort of doughnut, small enough to eat with one hand, but also soft enough that it wouldn’t get crumbs all over my desk. I hadn’t specifically said anything: this was just one of Myusel’s thoughtful little touches.

  Mmm. What bliss.

  “I’m sorry to bother you when you’re trying to work.”

  “Your timing is perfect. I was just thinking it was time for a break.”

  “That’s good,” Myusel said, and smiled. I felt my heart skip a beat.

  Just the two of us, alone in my office. It was... well, it was exactly how we’d been before Petralka had shown up. I wasn’t sure how I felt about her arrival—half sort of disappointed, half like I’d been saved by the bell. But now? I didn’t expect any more interruptions.

  “Shinichi-sama?” Myusel asked, her head cocked like a curious little bird. I suddenly realized I’d been staring at her face.

  I quickly shook my head to reassure her everything was all right. “It’s nothing. Thanks, this looks delicious.” Hoping to distract attention from the situation, I grabbed the sweet Myusel had brought. It was probably made by hand; it still radiated a gentle heat... I took a bite.

  Ooh... That delicate sweetness. It filled my tired body.

  “That’s fantastic,” I said, and I wasn’t trying to flatter her. Then, feeling like I should offer more than two words of appreciation, I added, “You really can do anything, can’t you, Myusel?”

  “Thank you very much,” she said shyly.

  “I mean, you’ve got cooking conquered, housework honed to perfection...”

  “Well, it’s... those things are my job,” Myusel said, but she was smiling. “And I still have so much to learn about all of them...”

  “I can’t imagine what!” I said, and suddenly the image of my little sister flashed through my mind. “Shizuki, she’s hopeless when it comes to housework. Like, she’s got brains for everything but that. You’ve gotta wonder if she’ll ever be able to find a husband that way, heh! Not like you, Myusel, you could get married any—”

  Then I stopped.

  Watch it, Kanou Shinichi.

  This conversation was going in a very dangerous direction. I had to pick my next words extremely carefully. And I did need some next words: I couldn’t just leave it there.

  Arrgh, what to do?

  “...any time you wanted, or... if you didn’t want, you wouldn’t... I mean... err...” I finished lamely.

  “Married?” Myusel said, sounding slightly stupefied for a moment. But then she said, “Me? I... I don’t think I could.” She glanced at the ground.

  Woah! What was with this totally unexpected reaction?

  No! Calm down, Shinichi. Self-consciousness is, like, one-half a word away from self-destruction!

  That was it: Myusel didn’t like me, you know, that way. She saw the conversation going in a weird direction, and just wanted to make it clear she wasn’t interested in marrying the likes of me. But she had to be careful not to offend or hurt her master, so instead she said she couldn’t get married, period.

  “S-Say, um, Myusel?”

  “For someone in my position... t-to even think of taking Her Majesty’s rightful place...”

  “Huh?” Why was she bringing up the empress? “What does Petralka have to do with this?”

  Did she mean it was Petralka’s “rightful place” to decide whether a simple maid could get married? Come to think of it, it wasn’t something I had ever given much thought to before, but what was the marriage age for women here in the Eldant Empire? Back in, say, Warring States-Era Japan, a girl getting married at fifteen wouldn’t have been uncommon. Could it be that Myusel and Petralka were both of marriageable age, maybe even starting to feel like they were getting old? Maybe it was actually normal in the Eldant Empire for brides to be really, y’know, young?

  Awww man, was this place secretly a loli paradise?!

  As my thoughts spiraled off in a weird direction, Myusel was struggling to find the right words. “Wha? Er... ah, well... Her Majesty... You and she seem very...”

  “What about Petralka and me?”

  “She seems to... ahem... like you very much...”

  “I guess? I mean, you don’t just drop by at the house of someone you hate, but...”

  What did this have to do with who could get married and who couldn’t?

  “No, you see...” Myusel started fidgeting industriously with her apron. “Her Majesty... Shinichi-sama, she... seems to... l-love you...”

  “.........Come again?”

  Love? Like, love-love? Like, ♪ all you need is love ♪ ?

  I suddenly started to panic.

  Who loves? What do they love?

  Petralka? Loves me?

  “Th-Th-That’s the silliest thing I ever—”

  I waved vigorously with both hands. Uh-uh! No way! Not even possible!

  We were talking about the Empress of the Holy Eldant Empire, right?! I was just a commoner, even if they did treat me like a VIP! A hard-core otaku and former home security guard, at that! So worthless he got rejected by his own childhood friend!

  The empress—love me? I guarantee that’s not even a thing!

  “P-Petralka? You think she—no way!”

  Ahh, but I am a man! To hear such a thing, even if not from Petralka herself, but still, from a girl—part of me wonders, Could it be?, and that way lies ruin! Plus, I have high hopes for Petralka in the future—er, I mean, she’s really cute. Just the thought that a girl like her might like me—my heart won’t stop pounding!

  “L-Look, this is the empress of an entire country we’re talking about!”

  I shook my head so hard my hair got mussed up, but Myusel said, “But that’s exactly why... If Her Majesty were to be together with you, Shinichi-sama...”

  “T-T-T-Toget
her?! You mean like, m-m-married—?!”

  Yet even as I said it, the words took on a strange savor of reality. I saw an image of a church, empty except for two people: me in a tuxedo, and Petralka wearing a wedding dress. Her short stature and girlish features made picturing her as a bride feel just a little funny, like seeing a child stand on their tiptoes—but there was no question the sumptuous white dress looked good on her. Holding a bouquet of flowers with both hands, she looked into my eyes and smiled...

  “Nope, not happening!” I made a karate-chop motion through the empty space in front of me, quipping at my own ridiculous fantasy.

  Myusel, though, seemingly unaware of my state of total confusion, was off in a world of her own, looking at the ground as she continued to talk. “Here I only want... to b-be by... by your side... but... if I were to marry... I wouldn’t even have that...”

  “Come again?”

  What exactly are you saying, Myusel-san?!

  Her pale, pointy ears had gone as red as ripe strawberries, but I didn’t have the wherewithal to point it out. I was pretty sure I must look the same way. In fact, if we had a mirror, I probably could have seen my entire face, bright red. All I knew was that my cheeks were burning something fierce.

  But even I, dim as I could be, understood what Myusel was saying. Petralka liked me. Therefore, she and I might get married. And if that happened, Myusel couldn’t marry me. But if Myusel married someone else, she couldn’t be with me. So she wouldn’t get married.

  ..................

  Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!

  J-Just hang on a second! What was with that harem trope-like—wait. Ahhh! This place had Middle Ages values—maybe harems were really legal (?) here?!

  Wait, what? So, like, it could maybe really happen?! For serious?!

  NO! No no no no no, wait...

  “No way! Uh-uh! Again, not happening!” I shook my head for the umpteenth time, shook it as hard as I could. Actually, I had been shaking it a little too hard, and I was starting to feel sick. What was I doing here? “I told you, there’s no way someone in my position can marry an empress!”