The Rising of Tanaka – 84 Part 1
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Pasifista
The Darkness of the Empire
A gust of wind blew through the air. It was the aftereffect of Eclair wielding her huge scythe.
「Did you say something, Sage-sama?」
「… No, nothing at all.」
While Tanaka was losing himself in delusion, everything was over, and the fallen men were letting out groans around him.
「Please wait a moment. I have to extract some information out of these men. If I can bring it back, I’m sure I’ll be able to see young miss’ dere face.」
「I see. Section 3 of the ladies and gentlemen’s pacts, huh. You seem very devoted, don’t you?」
「Much obliged.」
After bowing to Tanaka, Eclair, in a familiar manner, drew out information from the men one after another. Mainly with her fists.
Eventually, after finding out the general idea, Éclair moved back toward where Tanaka was.
「It seems that they were all nothing but the tail. I couldn’t gather any significant information.」
Her expression was as deprived of emotion as ever. But it wasn’t like one couldn’t see that she seemed to be slightly depressed.
「Looks like you’re shouldering some sorts of troubles. Alright, this is just between you and me here. I’ll teach you a plan to please young miss.」
「Really?!」
「Umu! With this, young miss’ dere face is ours. No need to thank me. It’s between you and me, after all. HAHAHAHA.」
Tanaka repeatedly emphasized the phrase ‘you and me’. Did he really want to use that phrase so badly? The smug look on his face, which made the high consumption tax rate in the Heisei era seemed better, showed the height of happiness he was in.
「Well then, now that we’ve decided on what we ought to do, let’s head to where young miss, who’s been eagerly waiting for us, is.」
「Yes!」
And so, as usual, Tanaka began to act on the spur of the moment.
◇ ◇ ◇
「… So? Why is he with you?」
The location was a room in a certain mansion. Torte, Éclair’s master, was sending a cold gaze at the maid who was oozing ‘praise me, praise me’ aura while continuously wagging her invisible tail.
「Phew, let me answer that. We happened to run into each other in the city, you see. And since you seem to be in some kind of trouble, I thought I’d offer my help.」
Tanaka appealed, while making the unnecessary gesture of brushing up his hair.
「That’s right! It seems that Sage-sama has a secret plan. Let’s borrow Sage-sama’s wisdom here and teach those hardliners some lessons!」
Eclair announced in a skilled imitation of passionate speech with a face that was barred of any emotion. However, the reaction of her master, Torte, was not that good.
「Please don’t worry. A while ago, I performed the prayer of ‘kick the stone until you return to the mansion and your wish will be fulfilled game’ and managed to splendidly kick the stone all the way back to the mansion. That’s why, the next plan is already as good as a success.」
「That was a good game.」
Eclair and Tanaka gave each other a thumbs up. Witnessing their action, Torte firmly tried to hold herself back from shouting, ‘What are you?! Children?!’. However, she could not hold back her sigh.
「Not good…. She’s turning into that of a more than ever junker.」
However, she couldn’t afford to do nothing but sighing. Torte switched her gears.
「I’m grateful for the offer, but I’m going to have to decline. Let me tell you, though, it’s not that I have anything against you or something…. No, it’s not that I don’t. As you’re turning Éclair into more and more of a junker….」
The conversation unintentionally went off on a tangent. Realizing it, Torte cleared her throat and clearly did a do over again.
「It’s not that I have anything against you or something. It’s just we seem to have been set up here. So we have to leave the city as soon as possible.」
「What the! What in the world might you mean by that?」
「The hard-liners have made a move. I received information that ‘there are signs of a campaign in Ganash’s castle’. I never expected that the king himself would act as the decoy. Given his personality, I thought that it was impossible, but not bad. No, or perhaps this was a trick of his chief strategist, Storen. Either way, we’ve been splendidly set up.」
Torte fell into thoughts. Her gestures were girlish, but her thoughts and demeanor were no different than those of an adult, showing that the path she had taken was by no means a smooth one.
「Now is not the time to be impressed. If that’s the case, let’s hurry up and get ready to depart.」
Eclair instantly switched from junker to combat maid mode.
「Umu, we have to hurry up and return to demon territory and rearrange our force. It’s a movement that even the king himself would act as the decoy. It seems that they’re pretty serious with the battle this time.」
And then, the two of them proceeded the conversation on their own, while Tanaka was turning into nothing but air. Would he be subjected to abandonment play in such an awkward situation just like this?
Just as the two started to walk out of the room, a lifeboat was offered. Moreover, it was from someone completely unexpected.
「It may be too early to conclude that, you know?」
The person who emerged out of the door while saying that was someone Tanaka knew well. Unlike the appearance that Tanaka knew of, his hair was trimmed and his beard was shaved, but there was no mistaking his voice and his dependable air.
Rather, for Tanaka, who could never remember the face of a handsome man, it wasn’t impossible not to be able to recognize him without such intuitive features.
「Big bro!」
「It’s been a while, my friend.」
The man Tanaka relied on the most — Hero Yashichi made his appearance.
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