Chapter 13: The Battle Against Cs

Chapter 13:
The Battle Against Cs

 

EJIL WAS SUPPOSED to work later that day, so I watched the drugstore until I heard footsteps coming from the house.

“Master! Master!”

“What’s up, Noela? You okay?”

Noela was tearful. She hid behind my back, holding her tail and trembling.

“Seriously, did Mina yell at you or something?”

“No. That!”

I followed Noela’s index finger and found that she was pointing at one of them. The black creature skittered across the floor.

“Y-you bastards finally showed up!” I muttered.

I didn’t want to look at it any closer, nor did I want to use its actual name. I’d just call it “C.”

“M-Master, save me!”

“The p-problem is, Noela, I hate them, too.”

Nonetheless, this was our house, our drugstore. As shopkeeper, it’s my responsibility to protect this place!

Gulp.

I grabbed a broom and closed in on my target.

“Good luck, Master!”

That bastard isn’t moving…but why? Don’t tell me C is standing its ground?!

C’s antennae twitched.

I-It’s picking up on my disgust!

C didn’t crawl forward, however. I slowly inched closer, trying to move within my broom’s attack range.

Damn it. What incredible pressure! The closer I got, the shallower my breaths were. Meanwhile, C was completely still and silent. Why does it seem so confident?! Wait. Could I be within C’s line of fire already? Is its calm simply the confidence of a creature who knows that it has the upper hand? Can it defeat me anytime? Can it flee whenever it wants to?!

That all made sense. Frankly, if I’d rated my athletic abilities from one to ten, I would’ve been a two. I hadn’t been part of any school sports clubs, and I’d always skipped PE if I had the chance. I doubted that I could take C on head-to-head.

Twitch. Twitch. C swung its antennae.

Argh! Is it in an attack stance? Is it trying to keep me still? Or maybe it’s gonna take off?!

“Master! Master! Good luck!”

I turned toward Noela and nodded. That’s right. I have people I need to protect. I lack C’s attack power, but…as a man, there are fights I can’t back down from or lose!

Slowly closing the distance between C and myself had been the right move. Two meters now separated us, and C was within my broom’s attack range.

I held up the broom and brought it crashing down on the beast, crying, “Hiyaaah!”

Thwaaap!

The broom attack echoed through the drugstore, but it wasn’t enough. My critical strike had missed.

Skitter! Skitter!

I followed the creepy sound of C moving, only to look down and find its antennae twitching near my toes.

“Gah! Gross! Get away! I can’t do this anymore! Nope! Bye!” I dropped my broom and cowered. Sorry, I’m too scared for this!

“Master…!”

“Noela…!”

We were trembling in a corner when, suddenly, a new challenger arrived.

“Good morning!” Ejil was here.

Oh, right. It’s time for his shift.

“Huh? Doctor? Noela? What’s up?”

“Ejil, your first chore today is to defeat C! You can do it, right?”

“Eh?” Ejil looked where I was pointing. He paled and spun around. “Oh, right. I forgot! I don’t have a shift today.”

“Uh, you definitely do!”

“See you guys later!”

“Wait! Hold on!”

A teleportation circle appeared, and woosh, Ejil was gone.

That bastard ran away! I thought, stunned.

Suddenly, Mina appeared. “Mr. Reiji, Noela, what’s wrong? I thought I heard someone scream.”

“Mina, watch out! C’s on the lam! Try not to panic. You should go back to the house!”

Mina tilted her head. Spotting C, she pulled off one slipper. “Take this!”

The only part of this attack that I caught with my own two eyes was Mina swinging her slipper downward. In the next instant, I heard a smack. Mina put her slipper back on. C was on the floor, dead.

“Wh-what just happened?! Noela, did you see…?”

“Noela knows! Cockroach died!”

One of Kirio Drugs’ counter girls was a C slayer.

“What’s wrong, you two?” Mina looked puzzled. “I’ve seen lots of bugs around lately. Every time I spot one, I make a point of killing it.”

Picking up the broom I’d dropped, Mina swept C’s carcass outside matter-of-factly.

“Er…” I gulped. “We get that many ‘C’s around here?”

“They’re called Cs? Yes, we get plenty!”

“Supposedly, if you see one of them, there are at least a hundred more,” I muttered.

Just imagining it sent a chill down my spine. Even Noela trembled, curling up.

“Listen, Mina. Don’t underestimate them,” I continued. “They cling to life more stubbornly than any human. They even say that, when humans go extinct, Cs will still be around.”

“Th-they’re that tough, huh?” Even our resident C Slayer seemed overwhelmed. Then she shook her head and clenched her fists. “D-don’t worry! I’ll protect you both.”

She’s a true heroine! I thought, awed. “Just don’t underestimate Cs. In Terra Formars, Martian Cs are even more powerful than humans!”

“Martian Cs?”

“Remember that they’re horrific beasts with tons of potential!”

Mina swallowed loudly. She understood the gravity of our situation. “Wh-what should we do, Mr. Reiji? Cs will take over the drugstore!”

“No worries, Mina. I’m going to make an anti-C insecticide!”

Noela’s ears twitched. She stood up. “Noela help!”

Noela and I left the store to Mina, heading to the lab. My werewolf buddy was more driven than ever, so it didn’t take long to finish the new product.

 

C Destroyer: Insecticide gas. Annihilates insects harmful to humans or cattle.

 

The bottled fluid would apparently vaporize once it made contact with the air. Based on its description, I figured it would also be effective against centipedes and ticks.

“All right, Noela. It’s done!”

“Now we win!”

I nodded firmly. Goodbye, Cs!

We closed the drugstore early for the day, shutting the doors and windows leading outside. Then I placed the C Destroyer in the center of the house—the living room. I opened the bottle, and the insecticide began to vaporize.

I assumed it would take a while to do its thing, so the girls and I had dinner at the Rabbit Tavern, then hung out for a bit before going home.

I knew the C Destroyer should work just fine; I imagined that the insects had either skittered off or died. Still, considering our impressive enemy, I couldn’t help worrying a little.

Once we reached the drugstore, Mina turned to me. “I’m going to do a quick clean around the house. Then you and Noela can come in.” Our resident C Slayer smiled angelically and entered the war zone.

“Mina sure is reliable, huh?” I breathed.

“Arroo.”

We heard Mina sweeping inside as she opened one window after another. Before long, however, things went quiet.

Did something happen? I held my hand to my ear, trying to listen. Lo and behold, I heard voices conversing in the house.

Noela and I looked at each other nervously before we entered. I left her to clean the storefront, heading to the living room. “Mina? Is everything okay?”

Mina was sitting on the sofa. “Ah! Mr. Reiji!”

Across from her sat a strange-looking older man, probably around fifty. What about him was strange? Well, he had two long, antenna-like things coming from his head, he held some sort of pipe, and on his back was a reddish-brown capelet. I thought that maybe he was wearing a bodysuit, but I didn’t see any seams or zippers. Is he cosplaying or something?

At that point, I finally used my identification skill to figure the weird old man out.

 

The C-Father: Head of the C family.

 

I hesitated.

“Let me introduce you!” Mina exclaimed. “Mr. Reiji, this is Mr. C-Father. Um, Mr. C-Father, this is the owner of Kirio Drugs, Mr. Reiji.”

“Uh, nice to meet you,” I said awkwardly. So, um, this guy’s a C? He’s kind of human-sized…and he looks like a gangster.

The C-Father took a moment to exhale some smoke. “This is your house, young man?”

Jeez. He even sounds like a yakuza.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I thought this was a nice little spot, so I moved my family in. Then, all of a sudden, the place filled with god-awful smoke.” C-Father narrowed his eyes, looking distraught. “Thanks to that, my family’s scattered to the wind.”

I shook my head. “Okay, sorry, but can I get a time-out?”

“What is it?” Mina asked me.

“Who is that?” I whispered so that the strange creature across from us couldn’t hear.

“Mr. C-Father. He said as much a moment ago,” Mina reminded me. “Your C Destroyer put his family through the wringer.”

“I mean…that’s why I made it.”

“The problem is, they can’t live here anymore,” Mina continued.

“Yeah. That’s why I made the C Destroyer,” I repeated. I couldn’t help just wanting C-Father to leave. Why the hell is he so tough-looking? And why is he smoking?!

I heard the C-Father’s gravelly voice. “Humans die of smoke inhalation during fires, right? Well, smoke’s poisonous to us, too.”

Says the guy smoking a pipe as we speak. “Look, this is my house. Could you kindly leave? Hosting you isn’t hygienic.”

“Listen here, young man—what do you say to keepin’ me as a pet?”

“No way.”

“Heh heh heh! I hear you make medicine. If you unlock the secret of my family’s longevity, you’ll be—”

“Nah. I’m good. And if you don’t leave, I’ll put out more C Destroyer.”

“If this dweeb takes me in, I can rebuild my family easy,” C-Father told Mina. “Heh heh heh!”

“Um…you do realize I can hear you, right?” I sighed. “Why’re you so attached to this place?”

“There’s a reason we Cs have to live here!” C-Father declared. “Wait…no, there isn’t.”

“Seriously?” I rolled my eyes. “Mina, handle this.”

“All right!” She took off a slipper and smacked the C-Father. “Yah!”

That’s literally the perfect slap in the face, I mused.

The C-Father widened his eyes, stunned. “That slipper felt like a bolt of lightning! Young lady…are you the Slipper Striker?”

“Er, what?” I asked.

“Most likely,” Mina responded.

“Whoa.” The C-Father squinted, then chuckled. “My entire family got done in by the Slipper Striker…?”

“Well, I had work to do.”

The C-Father slowly shook his head. “I get it now,” he said regretfully. “I’m up against a superweapon.”

Er…we bought those slippers at the general store, and they were on sale. Him treating them like some legendary sword was kind of awkward.

“I’m not young anymore,” sighed the C-Father. “I’ll take this ceasefire and retreat.” Standing, he skittered into the drugstore.

“Garrooo?!”

Seeing the C-Father, Noela jumped away in shock. I didn’t blame her. A strange, crab-walking old dude had appeared out of nowhere, after all.

“Sorry for the intrusion, beast girl,” the C-Father said gruffly. “Fear not. My family won’t come near here anymore!”

He turned his back and waved as he left the drugstore. Noela and I watched his reddish-brown back grow distant.

“Mina…?”

“Yes?”

“He was a C, right? Not some old guy cosplaying?”

“I’d say that’s a safe assumption, since he introduced himself as the C-Father.”

Yeah. Even my identification skill confirmed that. I’d certainly learned a lot from this. “There are all kinds of Cs out there, huh?”

Noela nodded deeply, seemingly thinking the same thing.

I guess it made sense that the C-Father was so intimidating. Wait…did that make sense? Now that I thought about it, that huge C had been in the house this whole time. It sent a chill down my spine. He said that he wouldn’t let his family near the drugstore. Is he steering clear of my C Destroyer?

Either way, after that little discussion, we never saw his family members again. One way or the other, we’d managed to drive the Cs out of Kirio Drugs.