But leaves and branches were what eventually bore flowers, and then seeds. Seeds that would become the great trees of tomorrow.
And so—slowly, gradually, without force or intensity, they would bring change. Like saplings suddenly sprouting along the roadside.
“What will you do, sister?”
“A good question...” I turned away from Clara. The truth was, I had already made up my mind. “What do you want to do?”
“Me? I will follow you, sister,” Clara said without a moment’s hesitation. It was as if she knew completely what was in my heart. I couldn’t suppress a bit of a smile.
“He is more shrewd than I took him for,” I said, absently flipping the pages of one of the manga. “Talking smuggling with the very country that kidnapped him. And making Elvia his contact point, no less.”
His letter said he would periodically send Elvia back to Bahairam as his courier for the black market. Outwardly, Elvia would be coming back to deliver materials she had collected during her spying. True, some of these manga had already made their way to Bahairam via merchants from the Eldant Empire—but getting them directly from the source like this would make them cheaper, more numerous, and more accessible to the common people.
“We may wish our nation had never gotten involved with a man like him,” I mused. If we weren’t careful, our country might find itself swept away, perhaps in ways even Shinichi himself didn’t fully understand.
I didn’t say anything more, but as I began paging through this book called a manga once again, even I could finally tell that the smile on my face was a happy one.
（つづく）
To Be Continued...
Afterword
Hiyo, light novelist Sakaki here.
I humbly bring you Volume 5 of Outbreak Company: The Power of Moe.
I handled this story a little differently than in the past. Well, not that differently; I mostly mean there were multiple perspectives. I decided to treat Myusel, who (seems) quite popular with readers, as almost a second protagonist. As I worked with her perspective, I was surprised to find myself, well, surprised by the character I was discovering.
I mean, for one thing, she seems like the type who could be very violent when cornered. I mentally revived the possibility of making her a yandere.
As a point of fact, the reason Myusel doesn’t use a 9mm or a Type 89, but a Squad Automatic Weapon, started with a request from my illustrator, Yuugen-shi. I give it some thought and figured that Myusel did do a stint in the military, and maid work involves quite a bit of physical labor (carrying lots of laundry, for example. Plus, using a washboard is supposed to be pretty taxing), so I decided, sure, why not?
Setting aside the convoluted explanations, though, I think we can all agree that a beautiful half-elf girl in fantasy garb carrying a huge gun makes for a great picture.
For the record, the Minimi that Myusel uses (and gets via Minori), along with the equipment from the Eldant garrison, is in my view considered to be obtained from the same place that special forces get these sorts of things. That is, these weapons don’t officially exist (on the JSDF manifests, for example). So the Minimi, the gunstocks, and so on aren’t technically those used by the Self-Defense Force. Just an obsessive little detail—not that it makes any difference (grin).
So then. Following the rule of ever-intensifying threats, I would expect the next volume to introduce a character who threatens Shinichi’s very existence, but how could such a thing happen??
I would love to see you again for the next volume.
Ichiro Sakaki
31 October 2012
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Copyright
Outbreak Company: Volume 5
by Ichiro Sakaki
Translated by Kevin Steinbach
Edited by Sasha McGlynn
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2012 Ichiro Sakaki
Illustrations by Yuugen
All rights reserved.
First published in Japan in 2012 by Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.
Publication rights for this English edition arranged through Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Ebook edition 1.0: September 2018
Outbreak Company: Volume 5 Page 19