CH 51.52

Chapter 51 – The Love of The Tiger Girl Yadar

“Whoa! This is awesome, my Torajima-go!”

In the driver’s seat of the newly procured school bus, the tiger girl Yadar was hugging the steering wheel.

Normally, she is a bit of a grumpy, bad-tempered chuunibyou kind of girl, but now she is smiling maniacally with a tight smile on her face. Rather than smiling, Yadar honestly makes me feel a little uncomfortable when I see her like that.

“Don’t give it a name without permission. Also, it’s not yours.”

In this world, too, vehicles are called “XXX-go”. Or is it just a matter of automatic translation?

“Well, it’s fine, Yoshua. Wouldn’t it be easier for you if you put Yadar in charge of the bus?”

“That’s… well, that’s true, but…”

“Let’s just get back to Casemaian and fix up my cute little bear.”

…Hey, you too, huh?

Myrril-san, will you fix the kindergarten bus with the suspension pulled out and the driveshaft bent? I think the only place where it can be safely driven around is that plain. The north side is a forest, and the south side is hostile territory.

Well, whatever. I don’t know much about it, but I wonder if it needs transmission oil or something. I’ll ask Simon later.

I checked every part of the vehicle and filled the jerry cans with diesel fuel, five 20 liter cans of diesel fuel. The fuel gauge seemed to be working fine after I rechecked it after refueling from its initial state of being almost empty.

I had reserved five more jerry cans of fuel for Humvee, but it was only 80 kilometers to Casemaian, so I wouldn’t need to refuel again.

“Okay, please get in.”

“”””Yeess♪””””

“There are no chairs for everyone, so the little ones sit with the adults.”

“”””Yeess.””””

The former Yerkel residents who were transferred to the new car were surprised to see that it was twice as spacious. The common attitude seemed to be to pretend that they hadn’t seen the tiger girl frolicking on the steering wheel as soon as they entered.

Certainly, it’s hard to be subtle about it.

Even though it was a school bus, the chairs were big enough for an American. There were ten seats on each side that could seat two children. Even an adult beastman could comfortably sit alone. Unfortunately, there were no extra seats, so they had to be packed in. Unlike the bear-faced bus, where sitting on the floor was the norm, this time, even though there were enough chairs, there were still people who didn’t get it. I guess I should have bought some cushions.

This time, it’s an emergency, and there are only a few left, so they’ll have to put up with it.

“Let’s go, Yadar.”

“Y-yeah! Anytime!”

“First, turn that key. Yeah, the silver one. Wait a minute there… and turn it again.”

“O-o-ooohh…?”

The cell motor roared a few times, and then the engine started. The heavy revving sound of the large-displacement diesel engine sent Yadar, the tiger girl, into a frenzy.

“And? And?”

I pointed to the shift lever on the right side of the driver’s seat. She couldn’t read the alphabet, so I had to get her to recognize it as a symbol. Just the stop, forward and reverse.

“When you start the engine, it’s in the current position. When you want to move, go here. When you want to move back, it’s here, but it’s dangerous because you can’t see behind you, so basically just move forward.”

“Okay.”

“Put the shift lever here and press the right gas pedal to drive. The left pedal is to stop the car. Turn that round thing to turn the car. The rest, I’m not sure either.”

The control panel on the left side of the driver’s seat has a lot of switches and stuff, but I guess it’s just for business or road use, so I decided to leave that part aside. It can wait; I want to go back to Casemaian as soon as possible.

“Slowly at first, at a speed that allows you to stop quickly.”

This idiot suddenly pushed the gas pedal to the bottom!

“Oooh, it’s so fast! What an amazing power! As expected of the Torajima-go!”

“Stop!”

“Oh.”

“Uugghh…!”

I was almost blown off by the sudden start and then bounced off by the sudden stop and stuck to the window glass. As a result of taking a stand to protect Myrril, only I was hit here and there and bounced around.

Myrril, on the other hand, was holding the railing with one hand and was in a solid position. So, in essence, it was a solo match for me.

“Yadar! I said slowly! I told you that!”

“Oh… I-I’m sorry, I was just so happy.”

Once she regained her composure, she started again. This time, I reminded her to drive very carefully and smoothly.

“Okay, keep going. If you suddenly speed up, stop, or turn, the people in the car may get hurt or feel sick.”

“I-I understand. I’ll do my best.”

When the speed had increased to a certain extent, I set the upper limit at around 40 mph (64 km/h).

“Even if the visibility is good, keep the speed at this level.”

“My Torajma-go can do better than that.”

“It’s not yours… but that’s okay. There’s nothing good about going too fast on this bus. The purpose of this vehicle is to transport the passengers as safely and comfortably as possible. The only one who has to run fast and fight the enemy is Humvee.”

“I see. Yeah, I get it. Safe and comfortable, right?”

I don’t know what it is that attracts her so much, but Yadar is madly in love with the school bus. Even when the bus stopped for a break, she stayed in the driver’s seat and refused to leave.

I couldn’t help it. I’ll ask someone to carry the tea and snack to the driver’s seat when it’s ready.

“Okay, good child. I know you can do better than that.”

I can hear voices through the window. What is it? What is it with the Casemaian Elf and Dwarf and their refractive love for their weapons, or do subhumans have a lot of fetishistic interests?

“I think my ‘konmpaundobo’ is something that matches my feelings.” [T/n: Compound Bow.]

“Hmm. My “Uuji” is the same. He’s so bloodthirsty; it’s hard to calm him down.” [T/n: Uzi.]

“Now, Torajima-go, I invite you to my homeland, to the Casemaian.”

Hey! Somebody stop them! My mental HP is zero!

Chapter 52 – Tiger, Tiger, Tiger (虎・トラ・とら,)

Yadar’s driving skills, which had been sluggish at the start of the day, had stabilized by midday, and she was now able to handle herself reasonably well.

Of course, this is possible because there are no pedestrians, no oncoming cars, no traffic lights, no police, and almost no turns on the road. Even in a different world, it doesn’t change the fact that you will die if you crash.

“The problem is when you turn.”

“Come on, Yoshua, Torajima-go and I can turn any corner.”

“I wouldn’t worry about whether or not the car could turn.”

“What do you mean?”

“Yoshua’s concern is understandable… Yadar, stop just short of the crest of the hill. We’ll go out to scout first.”

After about an hour of driving, we reached the designated spot. Yadar stopped smoothly and turned off the engine.

“I will go with you.”

Me, Myrril, and Minya are going to scout the area. Yadar didn’t even move from the driver’s seat.

I bet she won’t want me to store that bus when we get back to Casemaian. She’s probably saying, “This is my Torajma-go.”

If she insists until the end, I’ll just stow the bus with her. Living creatures will get bounced, so she’ll just pop out naked, right? It’ll be fun, but then I’ll be blown away.

“Yoshua, what are you smiling about? Let’s get going.”

We made our way to the top of the hill and squatted down in the shade of a tree.

At the bottom of the gentle slope, we could see a vast, almost circular basin. It was about ten kilometers in diameter. Near the center of the basin, the road divides into three forks. The narrowest of the three is the road that connects Casemaian to the kingdom’s capital.

One is the road to the royal capital, where we are now.

The other is the road to the empire. The current location is the closest to the empire on the route we have set.

“As expected, they’re here.”

“…Yeah, that’s right.”

We could see the Imperial Army straddling the three-way junction. If they were to intervene in the civil war and cut off the land, they should march quickly to the royal capital.

Judging from the thick deployment of troops to the west and their vigilance, they must have received some kind of information from the kingdom about the great defeat against Casemaian. It looks like they are afraid to move for fear of being pinched.

Although the distance was too great to see the details clearly, there were banners here and there in the camp. It was the same imperial flag that we had seen in Yerkel. From the cloak to the tent to the banners, they were all in black and gray, so they looked like dirty lumps from a distance.

“Is that the entire Imperial Army?”

“Almost all of it. …Fumu, only five hundred.”

It was only… the number was only 500, but it was actually quite a large army, as for the 30,000 mobilized by the Kingdom Army before, it was an anomaly. This time it’s actually just the three of us who are going to be dealing with them.

It seems like a statement based on that understanding, which scares me.

“They all wear the same clothes. It’s more plain than the Kingdom Army. They’re not fun to look at.”

No, it’s not fun, even if it’s colorful.

I didn’t pay any attention to the Imperial Army’s clothes during the battle at Yerkel, but the colorless group was very suffocating to watch in a large army. I guess you could say it’s a necessary intimidation factor in war.

“On the other side, military power is centralized in the hands of the emperor. This is both good and bad… Well, let’s not talk about that.”

As soon as she said that much, Myrril’s face turned sullen. I wondered if it was some kind of unpleasant opponent.

“You see some green armor mixed in on the far left? Those are the kingdom’s margrave soldiers. They’re a bunch of cowards who sought shelter from the enemy and gave away what they stole!”

“Stole?”

“Yes, look! That’s the mechanical bow they took from the kingdom!”

Yeah, I can’t see it at all. It doesn’t matter how big the bow is; it’s impossible to tell if it’s a few kilometers away.

Myrril-san, give me back my binoculars.

“That was the last one of the four units. And an original one made by Myrril.”

“Yes, no doubt about it. The red on the body was painted by my own hand, after the fire gods that the Dwarves worship.”

“That’s good.”

“Hmm?”

“This is a good opportunity for Myrril to take it into your own hands. Take it or destroy it. I’ll help you either way.”

“I’ll crush it. That thing shouldn’t be in existence. Although I feel a lot less guilty now that “I’ve seen Joshua’s ‘pistol’ and ‘ayeedee’.” [T/n: IED.]

Indeed. It’s a weapon that can cause indiscriminate and merciless death, but after seeing an IED that can blow up nearly 10,000 heavily armed infantrymen, I suppose it makes sense.

“Okay, so Myrril and I will take the Humvee…”

“I’ll take the gun.”

“Eh, I want Minya to protect the bus.”

“I’ll do it if you give me a bus with an “emu-rokuju” on it.” [T/n: M60.]

“No way. Where are you gonna put it?”

“Then no. I’ll just ride the Hanbi.” [T/n: Humvee.]

This girl too, huh…

“Alright. We’ll have Minya come with us. We’ll kick the enemy out of the way, put the Torajiima-go in a side road, and then you will hold them off from behind. The more hands we have, the better.”

“Thanks, I love you, Myrri!”

Minya hugged and stroked the older Myrril as if she was praising a child. In terms of height, Minya is bigger than Myrril.

Minya, who always has a cold-hearted or even resigned look to the world, sometimes shows a childish or even age-appropriate attitude, which conversely makes me feel a little sad.

I hope that, little by little, she will become a normal girl again. Well, that’s not something I can say as I’m taking her out on a murderous trip.

“By the way, Minya, the belt link is limited to 100 rounds, but you can change the ammunition, right?”

“Of course. It’s almost the same as the machine gun. Dwarves taught it to me, and it’s faster than counting to five.”

“When did you… Hmm?”

“What the hell is that noise?”

Just as we were about to get back on the bus, we heard some kind of crackling noise.

As we entered the vehicle, Yadar was fumbling around the switch control panel while the speakers were blaring with the sound of intense drums and electric guitar. The beastman children join in the vocal shouts with a howl of their own.

They seemed to be having fun, but it was too loud.

“What are you doing?”

“Y-Yoshua, something’s starting to sound on its own.”

“No way that’s true. Did you push something?”

“I-I didn’t push anything, I didn’t do anything, and now this happens.”

“Why are you stuttering? Don’t avert your eyes.”

“I think I pressed something, but I don’t remember where.”

She’s like a computer novice when the screen goes weird.

I don’t know whose taste this is, but it’s a very nostalgic rock… heavy metal. I can’t find the name right away.

I think it was Alice Cooper.

“Yoshua, what the hell is this?”

“This is the music of my world. There are all kinds of music, from quiet to loud, and this is like the loudest of the loud.”

“…Hmm. I don’t know what this song is about, but it really sticks in your mind, doesn’t it? Or, to put it another way, it’s the only way.”

“…I see, that’s right. Well, it’s that kind of music.”

“The Imperial Army is on the move. They’re coming.”

“Is that music making them aware? Can they hear us at that distance?”

“I don’t think that’s the point. It doesn’t matter. We’ve decided to destroy them anyway. Yoshua, bring out the Hanbi!” [T/n: Humvee.]

Myrril shouted with her arms towards the enemy camp as if she was calling the shots. No, what kind of warlord are you?

When the bus was about to depart in two separate vehicles, the music playing on the bus switched.

“…Wait a minute, “Eye of the Tiger” here?” [T/n: Survivor’s song.]

It’s too perfect for this story, though. The tiger girl and the Torajima-go (that’s all I need to say about that) had a perfect first battle.

Myrril in the passenger seat gave the bus a hand signal to move forward with a slight delay, and Minya shouted happily from the rear gun emplacement.

“Charge!”