Outbreak Company: Volume 8 (Premium)

by Ichiro Sakaki

  “Lauron,” he said, and a girl stepped forward from where she had been hidden behind the other dwarves. She was never very expressive, but there was evident anxiousness on her face now—only natural in the presence of Her Majesty the Empress, I suppose.

  “Lauron Selioz. She’s young, but she is a full craftsman in the Guld Workshop.”

  Lauron didn’t say anything, but faced Petralka and the others and gave a single deep bow.

  Lauron’s magical abilities were staggering, there was no question. But don’t take my word for it. As absolute ruler, Petralka had probably seen her fair share of magic-users. Garius and Zahar presumably had, too—and they were all stunned. That had to mean Lauron was some kind of genius.

  There was one thing, though. We had reached the point where the doll moved as smoothly as a real human being, but that was it. To achieve our ultimate objective, substituting it for Petralka, the doll would have to move like Petralka, and that would take more practice.

  The mansion wasn’t going to be a convenient base anymore. That meant moving into the room that had been prepared for me here at the castle, as well as getting the cooperation of Petralka herself.

  “Mm. Is this everyone?” Petralka said, looking around at the people gathered in the room. That included me, Minori-san, Hikaru-san, and Lauron, along with Romilda (who was there as Lauron’s assistant), and even the elf Loek, who would help to take us to another level of Petralka-ishness.

  Just as dwarves tend to be talented in earth-related magic, elves in general are superb with spells that use wind—or more specifically, air. And sound is caused by waves of oscillations traveling through the air. So I thought maybe wind magic, appropriately applied, could even help us change someone’s voice. I checked with an elf I knew—namely, Loek—and he said it could be done, so I added him to the roll of people involved with this project.

  Loek and Romilda each looked at each other out of the corner of their eye. Neither said anything. Normally the pair argued nonstop, but here in Eldant Castle, discussing a political matter in front of the empress herself, it looked like they were either too nervous or too smart to start in with each other.

  “Let us begin, then.” Petralka turned her gaze, naturally, upon the life-size replica of herself, which was sitting in a chair at the center of the room. The two of them right next to each other practically looked like twins. If the doll were to start moving, to put its hands together and dance or something, it would be almost impossible to tell which of them was which.

  None of us spoke. Lauron and all of us waited for Her Majesty to give orders. But then—

  “Shinichi.” Petralka looked directly at me.

  “Yes?”

  “Will you not give the orders already?”

  “Er...?”

  Petralka put her hands on her hips. “‘Er?’ is not the answer we seek. We have charged you as our educational adjunct, Shinichi. As such, it is naturally you who would give the orders now.”

  Geez, really? With the regal note of “Let us begin, then,” I just assumed the empress would be the one telling people what to do.

  “Ohh... Huh. Okay...” First I turned to Loek. “For starters, I’m going to prioritize Lauron’s work on the movements, but maybe you could go ahead and just take a shot at changing the voice. It’s our first time, so just see what you can do.”

  “Yes, sir,” Loek said. He spoke readily, but his expression was stiff—couldn’t quite beat the nerves, I guess.

  “And then... Petralka.”

  “Hm? Us?” She sounded surprised. Maybe she’d thought she would just be observing.

  “Could you walk a little bit for us? I want to have Lauron imitate you. Once she can replicate something you’re actually doing, then we can move on to having her choose the motions.”

  “Mm. Understood.” Petralka walked to the middle of the room. Her movements were suffused with absolute elegance, like a noble girl at a ball. I guess, in a way, she was a noble girl—being the empress and all.

  “Hmm,” I found myself muttering. “That’s not quite right.”

  “What is not right?” Petralka asked (she must have overheard me), stopping where she was and looking annoyed.

  “Just act normal,” I said.

  “Is that not what we were doing?”

  “Not quite...”

  How could I put this? She was a little too aware of her audience, and was taking extra care, trying to present her best self.

  “You usually puff your chest out a little more when you walk, right?” I said. “Like, Important person, coming through!”

  I thrust my chest forward and walked around to demonstrate, Petralka watching me with undisguised displeasure. “W-We do not walk in such a bizarre fashion!”

  “You’ve gotta look—what’s the word?—more self-centered.”

  “Who are you calling self-centered!”

  “W-Wait, you never realized?!” I exclaimed, once again unfortunately speaking my mind.

  The next instant, Garius and Prime Minister Zahar both exploded.

  “Why are you laughing?!” Petralka demanded, getting angrier and angrier.

  Most people would cringe and cower when they realized they had upset their absolute monarch, but Garius (who was a relative of Petralka’s, after all) kept up the uncharacteristic merriment as he answered, “Oh, it’s merely that one can’t quite deny the logic of Shinichi’s statement...”

  “Garius!” Petralka said, stomping her foot and turning beet red. It looked both youthful and adorable—that was our empress for you.

  “Well, anyway, just relax and act normal. Please. If we don’t practice imitating you how you usually move, it’ll defeat the point.”

  “Hrm...” Petralka puffed out her cheeks but, maybe understanding just how important this “training” was, didn’t object further. Again, I urged, and Petralka started walking slowly around the room, looking a bit more like her usual self this time.

  “Ready, Lauron?” I asked the dwarf.

  “Yes, sir, I’m ready.”

  No sooner had she answered than the Petralka doll jumped up from the chair as if it had a spring in its behind. The movement didn’t look remotely human, but a few seconds later, the double lined up alongside Petralka as she marched around and began imitating her movements.

  The length of each step. The swing of the arms. The direction of the gaze. Bit by bit, Lauron brought the doll’s movements closer to Petralka’s example.

  “Excellent, just like that,” I said, talking to both Lauron and Petralka.

  That was the beginning of Lauron’s training in imitating Her Majesty the Empress, Petralka an Eldant III.

  Still, though. We couldn’t exactly stay at Eldant Castle twenty-four-seven. Thus Minori-san, Hikaru-san, and I went back home. Lauron, for her part, had been cooped up at our house since she arrived—but here between phases of the project, we decided to send her back home for a little while, too.

  And so, for the first time in a couple of weeks, the dinner table looked like it normally did.

  Minori-san and Hikaru-san were there, of course, but so were Myusel, Elvia, Brooke, and Cerise. Things had been so hectic lately that we’d hardly had time to sit down and enjoy one of Myusel’s homemade meals.

  “I’m glad it seems like it’s going to go well, though,” I said, thinking back on Lauron’s work as I ate.

  “That’s wonderful,” Myusel said with a smile. As usual, she looked almost as pleased as if it were her work, not mine. Her smile had become sort of a barometer of success for me.

  “I don’t quite get it, but I wish I coulda been there to see it,” said Elvia, looking at me with curiosity in her eyes as she shoveled food into her mouth. She looked a bit like a kid begging a parent for an unusual toy. Admittedly, it was still pretty cute.

  “Sorry, I don’t really think we could do that...” Elvia being technically a Bahairamanian spy and all. “What with the dwarves switching from prototyping to mass production, things have calmed down
a little, at least. I think we can all take a breath now. Thanks, everyone, for everything.”

  The development phase of the body-double doll was over already. All that was left was the production of spare parts—and that just meant repeating familiar work, so there was less need for me to observe or give instructions. Again, since this was sort of a natural place to pause, I had told the dwarves to go home for the time being.

  The whole project had really put a lot of strain on everybody, but I think it really hit Brooke, Myusel, and Cerise particularly hard. Myusel and Cerise were constantly having to bring food to the dwarves shut up in that shed, clean the guest rooms where they slept, and wash their clothes. Brooke not only built the little outbuilding, but helped bring in additional materials too. All these things were above and beyond everyone’s normal duties.

  “If that girl you found can do the job, then we’re all set,” Minori-san said, cutting up some duck meat with a fork and knife. “And offhand, it looks like she’s going to be fine.”

  “I’m so glad everything seems to be going well,” I said.

  For the moment, all the little details surrounding Petralka’s body double seemed to be coming along smoothly.

  Too smoothly, if you asked me. I couldn’t shake an occasional anxiety that I’d missed something.

  “If this were a light novel or a manga or something, this is about where we would get the twist—the thing that turns everything else upside down.”

  “Stop that, Hikaru-san,” I said, a strained look on my face. He sounded so calm talking about it.

  “Don’t worry, I’m just joking.”

  “It sounds scary somehow when you say it.”

  “Oh yeah?” He sipped his tea, evidently unbothered. But then his face suddenly turned serious and he said, “There is something I keep thinking about, though.”

  “Huh? What’s that?” I shifted in my seat.

  Hikaru-san had originally been sent here by the Japanese government to replace me—to replace someone who didn’t listen to them with someone who did. He was an official usurper. Even, in extreme terms, my enemy, fighting for the control of Amutech. A lot had happened, but I had managed to broker an uneasy detente—or so it seemed to me, though I was never completely sure what Hikaru-san thought privately.

  “A life-size action figure like that...” Hikaru-san started quietly. “Isn’t it basically just a Dutch wi—”

  “Okay, that’ll be quite enough of that!” I cried, smacking the table. “Why would you just come up with that out of the blue, anyway?! You had me really worried!”

  “I’m just looking at it objectively.”

  “Yes, I know it looks exactly like Petralka in every way, and yes, we built in all the crucial parts, but I think it looks even more stimulating than a body pillow, I mean—wait, well, there’s no telling what functions Romilda and her friends might have built in without telling anyone, but it’s so heavy you definitely wouldn’t want it on top of—ugh! No! The point is, you’re wrong! You are so wrong!”

  That is not why we built this thing!

  I admit, I could see the resemblance, but it was intended for a totally different purpose, so I claim innocence! Pretty much!

  Thus I fulminated both mentally and verbally. But then...

  “A dutchwi?” Myusel asked, perplexed.

  “Whazzat?” Elvia inquired.

  “It’s nothing!” I exclaimed. “It’s nothing either of you needs to know about!”

  It’s not for the sweet, innocent minds of virginal young women! That sort of thing is just for private, secret, personal use! I think! Even though I guess some people are putting them in the passenger seats of their cars these days!

  “Let me explain.”

  “Stoppit, Hikaru-san!”

  He looked like he was relishing the prospect of enlightening Myusel and Elvia, and I tried desperately to stop him. Anyway, it was bad enough for Myusel and Elvia to hear this sort of talk, but if Petralka got so much as a whisper of a rumor that the doll was actually a sex toy, they would chop off my head and then throw my body in jail.

  I looked to my bodyguard for help. “M-Minori-san! Don’t you say anything either, okay?!”

  She, however, had her elbows on the table, fingers interlaced. They hid her mouth as she looked at me. I could almost have mistaken her for someone’s dad—someone’s dad who was the commander of a secret organization, using a humanoid weapon in an effort to instrumentalize humanity.

  “Is a male version ready yet?”

  “Minori-san...?”

  Her glasses flashed dangerously as she spoke. I almost thought I could see a huge black stone slab looming behind her. Maybe it was just my imagination.

  “Hello? Earth to Minori-san?”

  “Is a male version ready yet?” she repeated. “If we were to prepare two male versions, Real BL would not be beyond our reach... With a Shinichi-kun version, a Hikaru-kun version, and a Minister Cordobal version, the three combined could—”

  “Stop it already, will you!”

  Just shut up, you rotten girl!

  “What? What could they do?”

  “Well, let me tell you...”

  “Hikaru-san! Don’t tell them that! No filth at meal times!”

  Please, Myusel! Please don’t let yourself be polluted! Elvia has her phase—her phase of the moon—and that can’t be helped, but please! Just you alone, please remain my sweet, pure maid-san!

  And so on and so forth.

  So I was panicking. Minori-san was so rotten she was practically fermenting. Hikaru-san still looked as calm as anything. And Myusel and Elvia were both blinking in confusion.

  But we weren’t the only ones at the table.

  “Brooke, dear, seconds?”

  “Don’t mind if I do.”

  Brooke and Cerise, at least, seemed to be enjoying a pleasant dinner together.

  Anyway, on to the next day. After class, Minori-san, Hikaru-san, and I went with Myusel, Loek, and Romilda over to Eldant Castle. This, of course, was about Lauron’s training.

  Why had we brought Myusel? She’d been at school to give some lectures, but since she was here, I wanted her opinion on Lauron’s “Petralka-ishness.” Despite the massive gap in their social positions, Myusel and Petralka had been pretty good friends since the Assembly of Patriots incident—Myusel at least knew the empress better than Loek or Romilda.

  And so...

  “I’m thrilled to be able to spend some time with you after school, Minori-sensei.”

  “...Gee, thanks.”

  “Don’t worry, Sensei, when this woodland stalker goes out of control, I’ll beat him back into line.”

  “...Gee, thanks.”

  I listened to Loek, Romilda, and Minori-san chat as a knight showed us through the castle to the training room.

  “Geez, there isn’t a space in here that’s small, huh?” I said as we walked.

  The passageway seemed to go on forever, and we were the only ones in it; and the farther inside we went, the darker it got. Honestly, it was a little scary. I sure as heck wouldn’t want to be walking around here by myself in the middle of the night.

  The interior looked sort of Middle-Ages European, and it wouldn’t have surprised me to find a ghost floating around, or statues that followed you with their eyes, or other weird stuff like that.

  “Where are we, anyway...?”

  Truth be told, I didn’t know this part of the castle very well.

  It didn’t help that the building was staggeringly huge. The population density here was abysmal. The place was just too big even for all the nobles, knights, officials, and sundry others who used it. Hence why you could tramp through it for long stretches without seeing anybody.

  On top of that, the castle wasn’t just the empress’s residence. It was also a military structure—a fortress into which everyone could retreat in case of emergency. The interior was more complicated than you would expect, with multiple passageways twisting around and around the same places. I
f by chance an enemy did break in, they could easily get lost or just waste tons of time trying to find their way around. The castle itself functioned as a sort of maze.

  I could get around okay by myself in the areas I knew well. The courtyard, for example, or the audience chambers—places I’d been to often before. But take one step away from the places I knew, and I would probably be lost in the blink of an eye. I didn’t think Eldant trusted us enough to just tell us the layout of the entire castle.

  Hence, a knightly guide was indispensable.

  We had been walking through the castle corridors for nearly fifteen minutes before we finally arrived at our destination.

  “We have been waiting for you, Shinichi.”

  We were greeted by the sight of two Petralkas, sitting in chairs with their legs crossed.

  “Er, wha?” I found myself transfixed by the pair of them. They sat side-by-side in matching postures. Even the way their lips curled up in amusement at my reaction was identical.

  This went beyond looking like twins. It was like she was sitting next to a mirror.

  Lauron, incidentally, was standing against the far wall, watching Petralka. Presumably, she had to have her eyes on her in order to follow what she was doing. I glanced back and found everyone with me looking as shocked as I felt.

  “You’re identical...” I said, returning my gaze to the Petralkas. “Almost too identical. It’s kind of disturbing.”

  “What did you say?!”

  My appraisal caused the Petralka on the left to raise her eyebrows and jump up vigorously. A second later, the one on the right did the same.

  “Ah, now I know which one’s real.”

  The doll was always going to be a beat behind her human counterpart. A little conversation, or a slight change of expression, could be handled with minimal delay, but a sudden action like jumping up was always going to produce a hesitation.

  Then again, this was probably the only place we were going to see the person and the body double lined up next to each other, so it didn’t especially matter.

  “Are you mocking us, Shinichi?”

  “No, no. I didn’t mean it like that.”