Outbreak Company

Outbreak Company Volume 2 Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The Furry wild spy

At the school currently, although there may be problems occurring constantly, all the steps have been proceeded like what had been planned initially.

There may still be a disaffection seen between the group of students and spies, but all the students have much more ambitions in studies than expected… From what I reported to Petrarca at her palace is that both teaching j.a.panese language including Otaku cultures are still proceeding very well.

Those cartoon or anime Otakus mostly exist inside the school and hence, I attempt to make the atmosphere of this place look like a school literally as much as possible so that those individuals can get the grasp of the plot. Therefore, I have to manage the day and time for teaching to be the same as teaching timetable for highschool students and processing this until now.

Nonetheless, once I tried bringing videos for students to watch, p.r.o.nouncing cartoon voices and light novels for them to listen, or bringing computer games that I brought with me for them to try and play. However, I feel that if it is most teachers’ point of view, they may generally think that ‘It is no different from letting them play’ only.

From what I said at the beginning that:

‘If the dry land has never been watered, it will never become moist’

Originally, the Eldants were in need for entertainment already, and thus, they will absorb j.a.panese language and Otaku culture much faster than I expected. Although, it is a curriculum that forces them to attend cla.s.ses regularly every single day, six hours per day, those students will enjoy with it and additionally, will make them have much more enthusiasm with them. Furthermore, I also want deeply to make ‘The distance between the kingdoms of Eldants and us become shorter’ too. Therefore, I will proceed this educational work as quick as possible anyway.

As a result, the curriculum that I have prepared may end a bit too soon.

For this reason, in between now and then, I want them to self-study for now first.

I have to thank electric motor and solar cell panel to avoid oneself from installing them so that now this place already has electricity. This school has computers around ten machines which I have taught basic uses to the students already. Even though the internet signal in this world still doesn’t exist, saving and reviewing information are something that computers can make the best out of them. And I also really hope that all of those facilities will develop the education system if not significant but at least something.

“But anyway… clapping one hand is still not loud enough”

“What do you mean?”

After school today, I and Ms. Minori then took the artificial bird car to get back to the mansion together.

Inside this transportation car are two seats per row that face each other on which I and Ms. Minori sit facing each other on the opposite side. Sitting beside me is Myucel whom I left at the castle before she is sitting here. Her physical checkup results do not have any problems at all. She wants to return to the mansion to get back to her usual work and now she looks like she is still poring with using her thoughts to what she should cook dinner for her master this evening.

“Otaku culture does tell the boundary between the creator and the receiver that still looks obscure,” I claimed.

Ms. Minori tilts her neck a little bit with curiosity…

“Umm, once those ordinary amateurs sit and read Doujin around Comiket exhibition for a little bit, they will become experts without knowing the time.”

It seems she is also really an Otaku too.

“Yes, it is true, that’s why I think that giving credits to only one side is something not really acceptable,” said I.

“Umm, really,” replied Ms. Minori without showing any clear facial expressions. “But I think Shinichi-kun teaches too fast.”

“Really?” I questioned.

“Actually if you open a Doujin writing course for the Eldants, you can teach a year or even ten years that should not be a problem.”

“Oh, that is…”

I stopped her first. I just have a thought that all of my students work very hard and listen to everything I have taught in cla.s.s.

If I’m going to teach that long or should I…?

While I am thinking about that thing,

“…!”

Ms. Minori’s eyes suddenly shrink before she picks up her smartphone out of her bag.

“What happened?”

It seems she has received a contact via her phone from someone.

Since I have seen something like that, I tried to say something to her but Ms. Minori did not answer anything. She only shows her stress through her face while she picks up her smartphone to search for information.

What is this? She shows her serious face not like any other times previously…

“Ms. Minori?”

“Please do not interrupt.”

Then Ms. Minori knocks on the window from the cabin to call the driver before stopping the artificial bird car. Actually, now it is already getting closer to the mansion but why did Ms. Minori stops the car right here.

“What happened?”

“Wait a moment,” answers Ms. Minori while she’s looking at her smartphone.

It looks like she is getting into the ‘working mode’ right now.

“What happened to Ms. Koganuma?” asked Myucel.

“I don’t know, I also don’t understand.”

I and Myucel had a conversation for a while, whilst looking at Ms. Minori’s att.i.tude at the same time.

“There is someone’s shadow that looks like a stranger around the mansion too,” Ms. Minori suddenly spoke.

It seems her smartphone can receive a warning about a danger from some places too.

If those army forces are compared to American soldiers with high cla.s.s weapons, those weapons are considered very underdeveloped. However, in the present, they have been importing new technology even though it may not be as high-tech as in America. Nevertheless, they still have sufficient skills to build robots for spying too.

However,

“Is it a stranger’s shadow? Not Bruk’s?”

“We have a record of information of that shadow already but that person does not exist in the information,” answered Ms. Minori.

Actually, those army troops self-defence also do use robots of tiny sizes for spying duties inside my mansion as well in order to either spy or record any small information.

Before this I also saw Ms. Minori bringing spying robots that have a similar characteristic with a rugby ball that can move itself automatically by installing many of them around the mansion.

Actually, the army troops may wish to install more spying equipment than this but the problem is the budget. Apart from that, the Eldant Empire does not agree with following this action.

But anyways, this mansion has been rented from the Eldant Empire so if they do not allow, we also cannot just go install those equipment for our satisfactions mainly.

“And also”

Ms. Minori kneeled down to pick up her metal bag under her shoes and then picked up a 9 mm pistol that she kept in her bag. Actually, before this she also kept another 9 mm pistol in her bottom and today she may still be keeping that there. But after that terrorists’ invasion incident, it had made her bringing extra weapons in her bag as well.

The 9 mm bullet that was used complementally was not a weapon used for aiming to hit the ‘target’. It is also for killing enemies as well like the main feature of other pistols but it is a weapon for shooting ‘in front’ in order to pressurize and kill the enemies.

“Bruk won’t be going to sit or sleep in the dense gra.s.s, won’t he?”

“But if it is a warm place, he can sleep anywhere.”

“But I bet this human should be smaller than Bruk for sure.”

There is a human approaching through the dense gra.s.s field around the mansion. I can also probably guess who that person would actually be.

“This is,”

Ms. Minori is carrying 9 mm pistol with one hand and uses another hand to pick up her smartphone to check more information about spying robots before she frowns her eyebrows.

I saw the shadow is moving together with the zigzag noise through the gra.s.s.

Now it is obvious that there is someone moving around that area.

From one shadow to another, from one shelter to another, that person did not appear in the bright area even once. It is like checking to ensure that its destination is safe with care and moving swiftly without leaving any holes which reminds me of Metal Gear Solid. And it makes me think that this situation is not suitable for ruining the atmosphere by describing that ‘there is a snake over there’.

“After that,”

“…”

Suddenly, among the dense trees, somebody’s face appears at that particular time.

Surprisingly, that human is a little girl.

Her age may not be guessed accurately, but her outside does look like a ‘girl’ without any doubts.

She has a white skin that shines brightly. Her hair is cut short, her eyebrows are bold black and thicker than her rounded pupils which is such a seductive feature.

She wears a brown trouser that is long down to her ankles and wears a pair of sandals. She covers her top with strapless shirt but exposes her curve parts of the body including her hips and bottom visibly.

It is a figure that is extraordinary and it is also another attraction of her too. Her clothing can be seen clearly that she wants agility but that girl is carrying a giant brown bag on her back as well making her look very similar to a vagrant.

The thing that surprises me the most is not her clothing but rather… her ears.

First I thought that is her hair but once I look carefully, the position where it should be an ear has a shape that looks like a triangular-shaped ear from animals covered with brown fur everywhere.

In addition to that, once I thought that “or sometimes… or maybe…” and try to avoid staring at her lower part of the body. I also saw a brown furry tail, which has a similar colour as her hair, hidden at the back of her body too.

Oh! This is…!

Hybrid creatures! Lycanthrope!

The Sacred Eldant Empire really has every flavor!

This land has elves, humans, and even human lizards so I think that hybrid creatures do possibly exist.

And the point is that girl is so cute that I wanted to lift my knuckles pointing at the sky and scream as loud as I can simultaneously. However, I managed to think that now it is not the time scream with joy.

That half-animal girl then reached out her hand to grab the folded parcel, writing pad and a charcoal, which is removed from firewood, out of her bag. Before she stared at the mansion, she took her writing pad and hung it on her neck by tying it with a rope that was tied beforehand. Then, she placed the parcel on top of the writing pad and starting moving the charcoal with her hand.

It is a moment of silence except the noise of the charcoal sc.r.a.ping with the parcel. It seems she is drawing a picture on purpose but the problem is I don’t know what it is. Why does this half-animal girl choose to do this?

Why does she keeping hiding herself around my mansion? Is she trying to find a place to draw a picture?

“…”

She is still concentrating on drawing picture, while the picture she draws is starting to look like a figure.

The first moment I saw, I felt it was like a rushed piece of drawing. But the figure that she drew contained all the details of every corner and area not just only drawing lines that form a figure.

Apart from the image of the mansion that she drew on parcel that starts to form a figure, it also includes the windmill and school building that can be seen from a distance. No, actually the image of the windmill and my school looks like it has been drawn beforehand.

At this moment, the only picture she is actually drawing is my mansion. She varies the weighting and pressure of the charcoal stick depending on the appropriateness in order to provide a contrast that looks clearer.

I don’t really understand that much… but I feel that her drawing skill is absolutely fabulous.

No, actually the most interesting part is the detail of the image because of that windmill. The windmill that the Self-Defense army troops have adapted is for the usage of power and electricity generator.  It is essential for the school and my mansion. Basically, it is a ‘power plant’ of mine.

What…?

This half-animal girl is trying to sketch an image of everything that is related to me including my company ‘Amu Tech’ too?

“Finally, I’m done,”

This girl then screamed at a high-pitched voice showing her strange emotion before putting down the charcoal that she was holding in her hand.

She removed the rope that hangs the writing pad from her neck before she kneeled down. Then, she opened up her large bag to search for something inside there and also pulled a cylindrical tube made out of animal fur simultaneously.

That tube looks like it can insert any complete work inside it.

She opened the cover of that tube and rolled her sketch drawing that she just finished into there. After that, she closed the cover and used a rope to tie the cover to prevent it from falling off.

“Do not move!” Ms. Minori used that rhythm to shout until that half-animal girl got stunned.

No, that isn’t Ms. Minori only. Beside her there is somebody carrying a 9 mm pistol pointing at that half-animal girl and there are two members of the Self-Defense army troops standing next to her carrying a Howa Type 89 a.s.sault Rifle in their hands. By the time Ms. Minori realized about the mysterious intruder invading the mansion, she contacted the garrison around that area to ask for reinforcement. Actually, the temporary military base camp does exists around the Eldant’s castle as well so she asked for two more militaries for reinforcement.

At the moment Holy Eldant Empire do not have any guns or weapons. Hence, that half-animal girl shouldn’t be familiar with any weapons too.

But the end of the barrel of Howa Type 89 a.s.sault Rifle also has the sword edge connected for fighting hand-to-hand as well. And if looking at the way that girl carries the gun, the witnesses can probably guess that it is a weapon. The way Ms. Minori and her team stares at that half-animal girl seems to make that girl start to panic since Ms. Minori and her team is showing obvious signs of enemy towards the girl.

“Ah… What is that! What is that!?” the half-animal girl shouting out with fear.

On the other hand,

“This place does not allow anyone to enter, can’t you see the sign?”

Ms. Minori asked back with a high-pitched voice different to her usual accent and tone like when she controls the troops.

Ms. Minori currently does look like a real soldier.

“But, I really neither can read nor write!”

That girl screams with an appealing voice and raising both her hands showing a sign of surrender at the same time.

Even though we are from different worlds, her manner seems to be a universal expression if I’m not wrong with my understanding.

“There is also an ill.u.s.tration of the book right?” claimed Ms. Minori, wanting to terminate this issue.

“If you want to enter, you should have walked through the main route in order for us to be able to see you clearly. But you look like are trying to intrude secretly without letting us know or using the main route. It seems you were having a suspicious purpose or something.”

Because her actions make us think that she has some secret plans, so she had to conceal herself.

“But… But…I am truly not a suspect,” the half-animal girl replied full of energy.

But I still think that others may consider her as a suspect.

“And who are you?”

“My name is Elbia Hanaiman. If I am going to tell who I am, it is what you’ve seen. I am a vagrant artist,” the girl answered Ms. Minori’s question with panic.

“An artist…” Ms. Minori slowly squinted at the cylindrical tube that Elbia is holding.

“It is true that you just came to draw a picture, right?,”

“Yes it is true! Just only for drawing!” Elbia pulled out that parcel from the cylindrical tube.

The more I look at the picture she drew, the more beautiful that piece seems because it is a sketch that shows every single detail like it is a high quality photograph. It is very surprising that she can use a stick of charcoal and manage to draw this masterpiece drawing completely.

But,

“Just coming to sit down and draw, it is still impossible to tell that you are actually an artist,” claimed Ms. Minori unfriendly.

But it is true from what Ms. Minori just said, no matter how brilliant or terrible the drawing skills would be, it still doesn’t mean that person is an artist.

Additionally, when that girl came to draw an image of a building related to ‘Amu Tech’, there is a possibility that that girl may be one of the remaining members that escaped from the capturing of ‘nationalist forces’ and draw these pictures for a murder plan of me in the future.

“Let’s say, we need to talk,” claimed Ms. Minori smoothly.

The image of those two troops standing next Ms. Minori has been captured by the spy robots nearby before and that image is sent via my smartphone.

For safety, I and Myucel sat on that artificial bird car and looking at all the situations via the image sent to my phone by signal. And once the situation is clear, I can sigh with relief.

Elbia Hanaiman, 16 years old, is a vagrant artist. The half-animal girl, who is controlled by Self-Defense army troops, could only introduce herself.

But actually, there is nothing else that she brought with her apart from the huge bag on her back.

The problem is why that vagrant artist appeared suddenly to sketch the image of my mansion. The windmill, power plant and the school building is another story.

But my mansion was originally built by a monarch based on the architecture of the Eldant Empire already. It shouldn’t be something that needs to be drawn with effort and hardwork that much.

So that means,

“You are probably a spy?” claimed Ms. Minori quietly.

“…Spy!?”

Now I’m on the second floor of the mansion, at my office. I and Ms. Minori are having a consultation in front of Elbia, who is handcuffed and forced to sit on a particular chair. I and Ms. Minori each then remove the magic ring so that Elbia and all the Eldants do not understand what we are talking about.

The problem is there is Myucel who can still communicate a little bit of j.a.panese from what she studied in the past 4 months. That’s why she can understand some secrets from the service affair a little bit.

However, Myucel currently is not in this room. She is in the kitchen preparing some dinner and Bruk is still doing his usual work in the garden.

“A spy?” I swallowed my throat. “Like that 007 or Napoleon Solo or that Jim Phelps-kun right?”

“You are still a teenager, how could you know of those old films?” asked Ms. Minori.

If you talk about ‘Mission Impossible’ TV drama version, it is a film during 1960s that me and Ms. Minori hasn’t introduced to this world yet. But it was aired on TV for several times that I watched via cable TV channel. Additionally, there has been a remake version in the 20th century as well. It is not surprising of why I know this film.

“It is a plot that does not exists that much during this era,”

“Those plots do not matter,” smiled Ms. Minori. “In this world, there is not only Eldant Empire, therefore, having spies are a normal thing.”

“But if you think about it, now it is currently in the war condition.”

I just came up with the story that we talked about before.

But since this capital city lies in the center of the country, it has not received any effects from war conditions that are surrounding that city and the citizens do not even receive depression from wars at all.

“It’s because the Eldant Empire is very wide and big, in addition, there are many tribes a.s.sembling in here. Hence, sending spies to lurk in this country is an easy task to do anyway.”

This place isn’t like j.a.pan where it is surrounded by the ocean.

If they actually want to do that, lurking through the mountains that are a boundary is also an easy thing to do or they can even find the underground routes as well. It is like some countries that do not have walls or having security checks to prevent intruders entering another country.

“…But why would you say she is one of the spies?”

Is it just because she sketched the image of my mansion only?

“It’s because of her strange att.i.tude that looks like she has entered a foe country. That att.i.tude is quite suspicious and plus, she had sneaked in secretly into this mansion that made our troops have to take action. Anyone would think like this.”

“Oh I see,” it seems possible.

Sometimes the foe country does not think like our side that we have built an inst.i.tution to study the Otaku culture especially those who do not understand may misunderstand that it is a service affair place. Even though the Otaku School was built by Self-Defense army troops and the Eldant’s soldiers too, it is not surprising that people will misunderstand.

So that means,

“This person is really a spy,” I looked at Elbia once again.

Maybe it’s because she does not understand why she shouldn’t get killed or tortured. That’s why now she does not feel any pain of being captured and controlled.

In contrast, the way that she doesn’t feel any fear or panic once she got captured is something that I could think of. It could possibly be that she has prepared to face the consequences beforehand already. Maybe she is probably a spy from Ms. Minori has said.

But looking at the confusion shown on Elbia’s face makes me feel that she doesn’t suit of the word ‘spy’ even a little, or is it because she does not realize the situation.

“And what should we do with this person?”

“We should find a way to make her confess that she’s a spy and then execute her.”

“Wait!” I suddenly interrupted Ms. Minori’s smooth voice.

It is true that if she’s a spy, we have to do it like this.

“Here, the law of the Eldant is righteousness,”

“That’s true,”

No matter which aspect are you looking from, it seems this little girl Elbia does not feel the fear or panic at all. It seems this incident does not surprise or shock her even a bit. Instead of her saying that she got sent to search for the enemies’ information, she should have said she came here because she was given a part of private mission without knowing the whole mission, that would sound more reasonable.

“But this person does not have anything that implies that she is a spy,” I claimed with looking at Elbia, with a confusing response shown on her face.

She reminded me of a dog that I used to own when I was young, including the shape of the tail and the same foolish behavior that does not show any fear or negative emotions.

“It is true for her,”

Something that I did not expect is Ms. Minori nodded her head too.

“Once I think about it again, she may possibly not realize at all that she is working as a spy.”

“Really?”

“Even there are spy robots keeping an eye on her around this area, this girl is also very easy to be found and appears very swiftly to allow us to see her without any panic too.”

It seems true from what Ms. Minori has said.

But for a spy, this is such a terrible thing where it gets captured from nowhere without any realization.

“It could possibly be one of those from a large group that got sent out with a large number.”

“Whoa,” I moaned.

Just only one person may not work so they have to play with a higher number? That means the person that sent her here expected that there must be some spies that got captured already? Therefore, it is not necessary to teach any basic knowledge for the spies. And for this different world dimension has an atmosphere that looks like during the Middle Age. People may look at this place like people’s lives here are full of fish and vegetables. If it is a method that people have to do this, even if it sounds really harsh, these terrible things do exist anyway. More than that, she seems unconscious about being slaved.

“…?”

Elbia stared at me trying to show sympathy to me with her confused facial expression. She leaned her neck a little bit as if she was trying to ask me ‘is there anything?’

How should I say… even though this girl may be tall and big, she looks very naïve and she can even get along with other people around easily without any hatred. She may not be a neat girl but she looks cute in the view of my dog.

And this adorable girl is getting forced to confess her wrongdoings and getting punished?

This punishment that she is about to face looks like those 18+ movie scenes too!

She may be forced to ●● and then get ██. No at the end she may feel ▲▲ because she got ★★ for all the time!! (Due to that it’s a ‘story related to a Tokyo boy at the matured age’, therefore, we need to censor some parts of the plot, sorry for the inconvenience)

I was thinking about something strange without notice so I made some sighing sounds unintentionally. But this is not the story I wrote in my book, this is a real situation that do not contain any imaginations being polished to the story.

It isn’t even a ‘novel’ that the story ends once the book is closed.

“She didn’t even come to mess with any secret plans of the military so can this punishment be reduced?”

Ms. Minori replied with a little smile, “Shinichi-kun, are you having some sympathy towards that girl?”

“Umm… I am not that soft-hearted but it is…”

But if she is going to be forced to confess her actions and get punished like this, I think I should support her side.

Because looking at her, she doesn’t seem to be an ‘enemy’ that is ready to attack us at any moment and personally, I do not want to hurt her in any ways too.

“Really…” Ms. Minori dragged her voice.

“Those animal ears do look Moe too, Shinichi-kun.”

“No… it isn’t that! I am not that perverted! Her ears actually do look cute!”

“What do you want?” claimed Ms. Minori with smile.

“It means that I don’t want to release her because of those ears, but I want to release her for the human status instead! And no matter what, those furry ears are really fabulous!” I used all my emotions to explain.

I want to confess directly that I want to rub Elbia’s ears and tail much more every time. They are not just ears and tail that are used in cosplays, but they are real, they can move and you can feel them warmly; those half-animal girl’s ears and tail! My dream of having a human status is getting closer to becoming true again! I feel desperate to go snuggle around those soft furs!

“Shinichi-kun, your saliva is dripping everywhere”

“Ah…”

Suddenly, I closed my mouth.

“…”

If Elbia saw that, though she may not understand my language, but she may still know that there is something disastrous going to happen with her since she’s trying to move herself on the chair. No! No, it is not that, no! Please do not glare into my eyes with fear like that!

“Even if you are going to talk like that,” Ms. Minori interfered. “But I do not enough power to go and stop the decisions from the Eldant Empire.”

“But if no one talks about it, they wouldn’t know what we’re doing.”

“Shinichi-kun,” Ms. Minori slightly panicked as she turned towards me.

“Don’t you know at all that you are being watched,”

“Eh?” my eyes started to glow.

Being watched so that means…

“From one of the Eldants?”

“Yes, maybe, the person who’s watching you got an order from the knight Garius,” continued Ms. Minori.

“That person came here so that they cannot be seen from the windows,” spoke Ms. Minori, pulling her smartphone to show it to me.

It is a picture that she kept already.

That picture seems to look like it has been captured secretly but something that got captured was something with the characteristic of a bird.

It was a bird hiding behind a tree. To explain it clearer is that its exterior feature looks like an owl but it has only one eye at the center of its body reminding me of a devil.

“We have seen this kind of bird around the trees surrounding the mansion every day. At first, we thought its nests are around this area and they would fly to find its nature. However, the way it stays at the same place for most of the time and looking at the same direction all the time seems not to be its natural habit for sure.”

“That is…or,”

But is she actually conscious enough to feel about this small thing?

If it is me, there’s no way I will be conscious enough to know about this which is why I don’t know anything.

“We do not know how much magic could do in this world but maybe this Eldant has got sent to watch over us and obviously those people would know about Elbia as well.”

“…”

So that means there are no benefits that they think about hiding her.

“But if you think about it, if it is Shinichi-kun, we could explain this to the majesty or Knight Garius may understand it.”

“Me?”

“Because it’s your work,” Ms. Minori simpered while she talked.

Work?

It is true that I serve the position as the manager of the company ‘Amu Tech’ but my position does not help me be able to interfere with the politics or the military of the Eldant Empire. Even though I could interfere, I still do not have enough good reasons to explain to them.

Then, how could I explain?

If Elbia is actually a spy, then how could I persuade them not to execute her?

For me, if it is about cartoons, manga, anime, games or novels, I would be able to imagine or think about it very easily and unbelievably fast. That’s because I have studied the importance of those media for at least half of my lifetime already. And for me, those things are like my study textbooks.

If that’s the case, the way to save Elbia, there should be some Otaku media somewhere in the past for sure.

I tried to grab all the knowledge during the time I was a useless and lazy introvert as much as possible.

Espionage spy, the hacking of secret information, was a movie about the spy that there must be betrayal and many levels of plan.

“Oh yeah!” I nodded to myself.

The next day, I took Elbia to the Eldant’s castle.

Ms. Minori recommended me that the longer we conceal the story of Elbia, it could possibly increase the misunderstanding by the Eldant’s side. Even Petrarca may not be that friendly towards me that much, her servants may also not be friendly to me as well. They are likely to find every sorts of way to terminate the contact with j.a.pan for sure.

From here to there…

“You have arrived, Shinichi-kun,”

I provided a work for the military to take care of Elbia before entering the castle and I found a middle-aged man standing in front.

Even though this castle may provide an atmosphere of ‘the Middle Age’, the guy appears to be wearing something that reminds me of a highly-paid employer. His hair is combed to the side and provides an atmosphere of ‘bureaucracy’ clearly. He reminds me of my lifestyle while I was in j.a.pan before I moved to this Eldant land.

Jinzaburou Matoba

During the first sight, he looks like an ordinary middle-aged man without anything special.

But actually, he serves as the minister of exchange and expanding eastern culture. So that means he is the one most responsible for work relating to exchanging cultures between a different dimensional world and the Holy Eldant Empire.

So that means he ranks as the highest position and is also my boss as well. Normally, Mr. Matoba should stay at the same mansion with me but his work is very different from Ms. Minori so he has travel very often between j.a.pan and the Eldant Empire.

Even I meet him once every ten days. Since he usually has a small amount of work, thus, if I have the opportunity to talk with him, I should not waste it.

“You managed to capture a spy from a different country already?”

“Yes, but actually the person who captured the spy is Ms. Minori.” I spoke with leering back to the female member of Self-Defense army troops.

To be honest, I don’t really feel destined to a guy called Jinzaborou Matoba that much.

Looking from the outside he may look like a workaholic guy, but he is the most complicated strange guy that I have seen. The reason why I think like this is because the fact that I am a manager of ‘Amu Tech’ company is due to that he is the person who has deceiving plans on me.

“But the decision to protect her with heart and mercy is a good decision to make.”

“…”

Wow, he really knows it.

But I’m not that surprised, because I think that this guy would have said something like this.

Ever since this incident has happened, everyone in this empire looks increasingly stressed out.

“That issue I am actually aware of,”

I shortly bowed to Mr. Matoba before walking past him. To be honest, I don’t really want to have a conversation with him.

After the ‘Nationalist Forces’ incident had happened, at that time, I felt that my reliability had fell significantly so that means my credibility that I had to the j.a.panese government also decreased too. The other side of kindness that they have with human lives is not choosing to achieve the targets; this feeling without hesitation will not prevent me from feeling the fear.

“Now the Empress is waiting, excuse me,”

I tried to excuse myself in order to prevent misunderstanding.

But,

“Okay, please take care.”

Mr. Matoba nodded with the voice implying that he’s not thinking a lot together with letting me go.

Today, the meeting room has been used like the previous day.

Actually, this room is not large enough to fit the a.s.sembly of Va.s.sals and the Pashas. So this room is only available for anyone related to the Empress for a.s.sembly. And today Pasha Sahal, who’s a pasha that did not attend the a.s.sembly on previous day including Knight Garius, is also standing next to the Empress, Petrarca Anne Eldant III, as well.

Pasha Sahal is the person who looks after the suitability for being a servant of the Empress with truthfulness. Because no matter which aspect you are looking from, he has pa.s.sed many experiences in his life until he looks very appropriate to be a servant for the Great Empress. He is a skinny old-man, looking patient and with an elderly facial expression that suits his smile. He does not have any wrinkles showing the signs of aging at all.

Pasha Sahal is the aide of political administration and economy for Petrarca.

Knight Garius is the aide of defense for Petrarca.

Once I saw those two guys until now, I think they each have a responsible role like what I was expecting. Thus, now I feel that the Empress has trustworthy servants a.s.sembling altogether completely.

After that,

“…A suspicious artist?”

Then I introduce Elbia to the three great people of the Holy Eldant Empire; for Petrarca, Knight Garius and Pasha Sahal to know her but they all showed their confusion on their faces.

“What are you talking about…huh?” claimed Knight Carius doubtfully.

And even though Petrarca and Pasha Sahal did not say anything at all, their facial expressions are very alike to Knight Garius’ emotion.

Well, it is quite obvious.

The basic principles of the Eldant Empire include that if any spies from other countries are found, they must be punished immediately without any investigation. And for eliminating all the other spies that are possibly sent into the country, the empire may have to use violence against those people completely without any negotiations or sympathy at all like what Ms. Minori had spoken to me before.

But,

“For this werewolf, there is a high probability that it is more than just a spy from the neighboring Balhaim Kingdom,” claimed Knight Garius before he continued sharply.

“Even if there is no real evidence in any way, but looking from its circ.u.mstance, it is correct for sure.”

“Wait!” I interrupted.

In this country, it seems there’s no claim stating that ‘If there is no real evidence, No punishment should be carried out’ right?

“It may be like what it has been claimed, but actually, there is a probability that it should not be like that.”

“There is a probability?”

“Well, since there is still no evidence yet,”

“If it is still suspicious, then punishment should still be carried out. The reason why this kingdom is very united is because we are very strict with this law,” claimed Knight Garius sharply.

Seriously…I sighed a little bit.

The Eldant Empire does not have the empathy for humanity, even if the idea of scapegoat or wrong suspect has been used as an excuse, this idea would not even exist anyway.

In this case, Petrarca may be happy to listen to, but with Garius, he does not accept any ideas at all. There is no use for falling with the issue personally or the empire obviously which I have antic.i.p.ated his behavior already.

“To punish the spy or not is none of your business.”

“Well, it is true.” I tried to claim softly.

I know that I am showing sympathy towards Elbia too obviously and hence, they become much more distrustful towards me until they no longer want to listen to me anymore.

“If she is actually a spy and you let her go and leaving her as my responsibility, does the empire agree with my decision?”

“What did you say?”

Seriously? Is that what Garius expressing through his face?

“My country has experienced many of these cases before as well. Even if it is just a story from a cartoon or an anime, to a.s.sa.s.sinate her, they can just find someone anyway and terminate the issue right?”

“For sure it has to be like that, thus, if we find another one, we have to just basically execute it.”

“But it’ll take some time to find the suspect am I right? The next spy is unlikely to reveal itself for us to know easily.”

“Well, it’s true,” Knight Garius glared at me with squint.

It seems that he is starting to pay attention towards me more.

No, not me, I mean he pays attention to story I’m telling, please do not think too far beyond me everyone.

“If you imagine that we let Elbia go, that means she could seek some information from this empire and report it to Bahailm Kingdom in that way. But those information are only what we told her. It is unnecessary to tell the truth about other information to her which apart from the truth, we can let her know everything.”

“Umm…what do you actually mean?”

Petrarca questioned and tilted her neck with confusion at the same time. But it seems Pasha Sahal and Knight Garius have already understood what I was trying to say. Even if it was a little bit, their understanding and excitement were expressed on their faces.

“Are you thinking of sharing some fake information to that girl?”

“Yes, if we do that, maybe we will be able to control the enemy side with our hands.”

For example, we can release some information to her about which boundary of the country has the weakest defence.

If we do that, the enemy is likely to set up the force and invade immediately without considering that our side has already prepared and set up military forces to handle the attack.

“Umm…that thing is true actually,” exclaimed Garius.

“Well, it is quite a clever plan; maybe doing this could gain more benefits than capturing and then executing them later on.”

“Yes,”

“But, this plan can only temporarily be used once and cannot be used again right?” Pasha Sahal stood up while Knight Garius was nodding.

“The information that we are trying to spread isn’t beneficial at all. Even if those people would believe and continue our plan, but the enemies will not believe or trust us for the second time for sure.”

“Well, that’s true,” I nodded.

The most important point of this plan is to show our biggest smiles on the faces like cheaters as much as possible.

The more we look like merchants that bribe through underground market for the service affairs, the more we are better off.

“But that is something I really need.”

“What do you mean?”

“Even if that spy does not receive any benefits and returns to its home country, a punishment from that country would still be given right?”

“…”

“…”

Garius and Sahal stared at each other.

“Shinichi Kanou, you…”

For a few seconds, the white pleasant face then has shown some signs of panic.

Before the strange smile was going to appear on Garius’ face,

“Oh, it’s like this, seems interesting, do you mean that you want that spy to follow you right?”

Yes, like that.

If the information that has been investigated results in any disasters for this country, that spy is unlikely to be able to return to its own country and no way of going back. For sure, there is no other choice apart from protecting oneself in the present only.

“If you are thinking of keeping her, that means we cannot bring her to look after by anyone in the military, am I right?”

“Well, it is right,”

“Then we have to keep her somewhere that is not military based then.”

If we reveal some bits of the information, then there won’t be much negative consequences followed later on.

Or if we can keep her somewhere that information is unlikely to be leaked and keep her in our sight, at least she’ll be safe and we can make her spread the information so that ‘the next spy’ will not be sent here ever again.

“Another thing, the Otaku culture, the drawing is something that cannot go missing.”

Not just only cartoon and anime, even games and light novels are something that cannot go missing too.

“That girl draws picture very fabulously so having this type of artist close to us is something very beneficial to my work as well.”

“Umm…” Garius and Sahal stared at each other for the second time.

After that,

“Shinichi,” Petrarca suddenly shattered the long-time silence. She glared at me sharply with some reasons while she’s trying to say something.

“So that means you want to protect that spy from Bahailm Kingdom?”

“Huh? Umm…yes,” I gently tilted my neck.

“I just wanted to find a way with reasons and with the most efficiency.”

Oh great, since I was too stressed,  my voice sounded very oddly soft.

“From the report we have received, that spy seems to be the very first female generation.”

“Ah, to be honest, yes she is,”

I felt like my sweat is flowing down the side of my body.

“To be honest, yes”, why did I say that, Shinichi Kanou!

It seems it’s out of natural conspicuously! And the nervous feeling with shaking is what!

I am sitting and imprecating my weakness in my mind while Petrarca continues talking with squinted eyes and patient voice.

“And that girl, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s are seriously large right?”

“What?”

“Are you trying to protect her just because her b.r.e.a.s.t.s are incredibly huge right?”

“Have you ever been thinking of stopping this perverted stuff?” I shook my heads without hesitation.

“No! No! It’s not like that!”

There seems to be more misunderstanding once again.

Before this, Petrarca used to show some signs of jealously from Myucel’s large b.r.e.a.s.t.s already.

Actually, not every man likes girls with large b.r.e.a.s.t.s. And if a person like Petrarca has those large b.r.e.a.s.t.s that would look extremely weird. But the more I talk about this, the more she’ll get furious with me. Hence, I try to tolerantly keep that idea to myself and swallow it without spitting it out.

“The point is how is this issue related to large b.r.e.a.s.t.s?”

“What?”

“Even if her animal eyes and tail do make her look like a very Moe character,”

“…”

“No, nothing!”

I feel that the eye expression that Petrarca is staring at me starts to make me feel cold suddenly so I immediately raised my hand up and swear to all the holy things.

But, to be honest, even if I avoid staring at her eyes or furry tails that are her main attractive features successfully, Elbia still has large b.r.e.a.s.t.s that are her main seductive features too. If you don’t believe, why not try it. Apart from the fact that she is a werewolf, her seductive body and her large b.r.e.a.s.t.s are very Moe.

Enough!

“So to conclude…”

I interrupted first before she continues,

“I want to keep her with me in control. If anything happens unexpectedly, I will capture her, interrogate and then punish her later. But I think there shouldn’t be any problem.”

“Alright, up to you”

Something I didn’t expect is that Garius also nodded too.

Maybe it’s because Ms. Minori told me before about how we’re being watched by someone. Those Eldants may use a living thing that looks like a single-eyed owl for watching me. I a.s.sume they may be using an owl to observe me and Elbia for most of the time. We may not be able to do something confidently.

“If you say something like that, then we can keep that spy for your majesty to look after, do you agree?”

“Umm…I can,”

Petrarca looks like she doesn’t seem to care and not even want to correct any other people’s reasons or anything at all. But at that time, she nodded so Sahal does not have the right to oppose her.

“Good,” I murmured quietly in my throat.

We finally got the artist.

“It’s because of this,”

Now the dining hall on the first floor of the mansion is used for a.s.sembly of everyone in this mansion.

I spoke to Elbia whom got taken back to this place again.

“Even if you are a spy but since there is no clear evidence yet, you are released temporarily.”

“But it helps a lot!”

Elbia smiled cheerfully and scratched her neck with joy.

And while she was laughing, her ears wiggled adorably.

Whoa, I want to try touching them.

“Well actually, she almost got captured as well,” I smiled.

Since it is almost time for dinner, Myucel, Bruk and Ms. Minori all a.s.sembled here together.

Ms. Minori has always been staying beside me during my conversation with the Eldants in the castle. Hence, she doesn’t really feel shocked that much but just only a bit of astonishment. However, Myucel looks quite shocked with the story she heard. But Bruk, umm, he seems very quiet for all the time so I don’t really know what he is actually thinking. Sometimes he may be astonished like others as well.

“But her status may seem to look gray which is very close to grey color,” I warned about her.

She may not be able to seek attention from everyone, therefore, if she starts to spy the information, then there seems to be some consequences afterwards.

“What? My fur is actually brown!”

“I didn’t mean that. What I mean is right now there’s no real evidence to imply that you’re a spy. Therefore, about the punishment, ‘until there’s a clear proof of evidence has been found, you are still considered as a suspect’ instead.”

“What!?” Elbia clearly showed her astonishment.

Or do you think that you have been convicted to be free from any claims already?

This girl seems to be more ignorant than I thought.

“No, it’s not like that!?”

The girl looks at every individual together appealing to ask for help.

“I am not a spy or anything! I am not related to Bahailm Kingdom or any other kingdoms as well!”

“What!”

I turned to stare at Ms. Minori.

The truth is we did not mention about Bahailm Kingdom or anything else in front of her even a bit.

There are in total of three border countries that are about to be convicted by the Eldant Empire. Thus, it is not always certain that ‘the suspicious country that will send the spy into this kingdom’ would be ‘Bahailm Kingdom’. Knight Garius, who has said the name of Bahailm Kingdom, has just made a decision to say that in order to follow the situation only.

“I just wanted to draw pictures of those places related to military forces only in several perspectives and send them. I did not ever wanted to talk about these things on purpose at all.”

“…”

Huh, please can she just be quiet for a moment?

It seems that girl named Elbia carries a trait of a clumsy child with her as well.

The animal-like ears and a clumsy personality trait as a combination seems not too bad.

However, looking at both her speech and att.i.tude that seems pretty leaking, no matter what aspect you are looking from, she doesn’t seem to look like a spy. But from what Ms. Minori have said, if she is a temporary spy, anything can happen.

“Ok, I understand now, but are you here just to draw picture right?”

“Yes, that’s right I feel it seems to be quite a weird purpose.”

“Now I’m in need for an artist, may I hire you as my private artist?”

“Eh?”

Elbia looked quite shocked and blinked.

“Ah, yes you can!” Elbia nodded.

“It’s true that I really feel like that.”

“Then you can come and stay here and for an exchange, you must work at this position instead of me. Most of this position’s works are probably drawings.”

I quickly interrupt Elbia before she accidentally say’s something out loud. At this point even if she may say something out loud, it no longer does make any sense.

“…”

Elbia stared at me mysteriously before she turned her sight to Ms. Minori, Myucel and Bruk respectively. But n.o.body nodded with showing an agreeable response to what I have said. So she turned back to stare at me with more familiarity towards herself.

“Is it really going to work?”

It seems pretty scary when she asked in that way but it does look cute in another way.

For the spread of j.a.panese language, we have to create something that looks like a dictionary first.

But for the Eldant Empire, which is a land with low quality in the usage of alphabets, just a simple dictionary is not enough to make the Otaku culture rise.

For now the only best thing that has something similar to ill.u.s.tration books is a ‘Simple Alphabet Table Glossary’. The Eldants have been living with picture signs for ages so for the Eldants, describing with ill.u.s.trations is something they are more familiar with.

Apart from that, even if the Eldants have received various different cultures, Otaku products are products that cannot be obtained without granted.

Actually, in the world that I live in, many media will have age restrictions on the audience such as Rate R, Rate X, or censor violent scenes which each country has different points of view on. For example, when there is a fighting scene in one particular game and there are blood spills, some countries will use a red-colored blood, some countries will use green-colored blood and some would even exclude blood spills totally.

And ‘changing details’ in each different point is something desperately in need for great artists.

Some countries that are very choosy with their customs will place the basic regularity in each different scene. For example, the showering scene in general j.a.panese cartoons, I have heard that sometimes they have to find someone who has the ability to draw a swimsuit on top of the woman’s body expertly.

“However, it cannot be drawn from personal subjective feelings at all, agree?”

The fact that Elbia is a spy from Bahailm Kingdom seems not to be wrong for sure. The fact that she keeps seeking at this mansion just forget about it. But I may not be able to let her enter and exit other places in the Eldant Empire especially the land related to the military forces because if she gets caught by someone, she’ll get in a big punishment for sure. Additionally, letting Elbia travel around other places is essential and those places must have fake information for her to seek.

“Ok, I understand,” Elbia nodded.

She may understand well enough that if she declines, she’ll get imprisoned and forced to confess her actions before she’ll get sent for a severe punishment.

Actually she looks pretty pitiful.

But I also know that she is at least welcoming herself that she still has a full life of thirty-two.

Let’s say this issue has already ended.

“So I leave you with that.”

I claimed while the half-animal girl still has tumultuous look on her face.