Neurosis and the Unspeakable Penguin

"Let me help."

Croissant felt it was a little inappropriate. Those two definitely wouldn't get into trouble, but the shrine maiden had already stood up, so it was hard for her to refuse.

This person was pretty enthusiastic.

That was how favorability worked—it rose bit by bit.

Knowing the general direction, Croissant and Hoshino set off. Since their targets were moving rapidly and constantly, it might take some time to find them, but that was no issue for professional couriers. Texas and Exusiai were easy enough to locate.

Croissant carried a bag and made a point of showing Hoshino what was inside: weapons specially commissioned to comply with Lungmen regulations.

A rubber bow.

A wooden sword.

They looked less like weapons and more like children's toys.

Croissant asked, "By the way, you didn't bring a weapon, did you? Fighting in Lungmen is pretty dangerous. You can't use lethal weapons. It looks lively every time, but in reality, hardly anyone ends up in the hospital."

"I could kill someone with a wooden sword too. If we classify them by lethality, I can only use a hand chop."

Hoshino nodded.

"Uh... a hand chop seems a little too powerful too."

"Don't worry. The definition of a lethal weapon only applies under normal circumstances. There are orca people by the sea who can crush skulls with their bare hands, and nobody makes a fuss about them."

Croissant explained with complete ease, without the slightest sense of urgency.

That was pretty strange.

Texas finally drove the car out of the wheat field and onto the road. The vehicle that had been flickering in and out of sight amid the wheat now revealed its full form. Weeds filled its gaps, its body was covered in scrape marks, and its windshield was shattered, cracks obscuring the driver's view.

"Exusiai."

"Got it!"

Exusiai raised one leg, curled it slightly, and kicked the windshield clean out.

As the road gradually widened, the drones withdrew. In their place came an entire convoy—more than forty cars forming an artificial traffic stream that surrounded Texas and Exusiai completely.

"Tch."

Texas spun the steering wheel, and the car slipped nimbly through the traffic like an iron catfish.

They were still cut off.

Texas could only follow the flow of cars forward. The window of the car to her left slowly rolled down, revealing the stern face of a middle-aged man.

They were all Lupos, but unlike Texas's sharply upright ears, his drooped low, carrying the fierce features of a bulldog. Texas glanced at him, then turned back to face forward, searching for an opportunity to break through.

"Exusiai, shoot him with a slingshot."

"Didn't bring one."

Exusiai answered as if, had she brought a slingshot, she would have immediately drawn it and fired, not giving him a chance to speak.

The man opposite them was named Hogg, one of the forces in the slums.

As for what kind of force he was, Texas had no interest in knowing.

"Texas, I heard a new force has arrived in Lungmen, called Yae Shrine. Penguin Logistics, as the biggest criminal syndicate, has been so eager to contact the shrine. Are you trying to form some kind of alliance?"

"?"

"You're trying to deal with me, aren't you?"

Hogg's face twisted viciously. "Don't try to fool me. My informants saw Croissant from Penguin Logistics go to Yae Shrine to hire someone."

"..."

Who even are you, man?

Texas had never expected this attack to come from someone suffering from persecution delusions.

Croissant going to Yae Shrine to hire someone was probably the boss's spur-of-the-moment idea. Neither Texas nor Exusiai had received any notice, yet this man somehow knew about it. Not only that, he had even managed to organize an ambush on their field personnel.

"Have you been spying on Penguin Logistics all this time?"

Texas finally turned sideways, staring at Hogg from the corner of her eye—the paranoid patient who had been watching them from the shadows.

Her gaze was still, as though she were looking at a corpse.

"Don't be like that, don't be like that. Your occupational habit is acting up again. We still need to figure out how to get out of here."

For the first time, Exusiai, who loved excitement, spoke in a cautioning tone.

Texas did not respond.

She slammed down on the accelerator, treating the three cars ahead as though they were nothing. The beast roared as it crashed into the rear of the car in front, crushing and warping its trunk. Texas did not slow down. The engine continued to howl as she shoved aside the three cars ahead in one go, breaking free of the encirclement with an utterly wild flourish.

"What do we do next?"

"Go to Yae Shrine. Isn't Croissant there?"

The car's interior had been reinforced, but after ramming three cars in succession, even the toughest hood could not withstand that kind of punishment. Oil dripped from the engine, and it could catch fire at any moment. Its speed also visibly began to drop.

The car came to a stop.

With lightning speed, Texas packed up all the snacks in the car and headed for Yae Shrine on foot with Exusiai.

Before leaving, Texas set the car on fire.

Amid the flames and thick smoke, Texas coordinated their story with Exusiai as they walked.

"Hogg blew up this car."

"That's right."

Despite their reckless behavior, they were extremely careful while escaping. Once they left the roaring car behind, Texas and Exusiai swiftly disappeared from sight, making sure no one could find them.

"I saw an angel halo!"

"Exusiai is in that patch of grass!"

"It's too blinding!"

"..."

Texas dearly wished she could fling open her coat and wrap Exusiai up completely so no one could see her.

On second thought, forget it.

They continued onward, running in the direction of Yae Shrine. Couriers never got lost, because they always had a constantly updated map in their minds.

As expected... their pursuers lost them.

Upon receiving the report, Hogg gnawed viciously on his fingers, his dog ears twitching upward nervously. He said nothing, but all his subordinates tacitly chose to move away from him at that moment. Sure enough, not long afterward, an enraged roar erupted from inside the car.

"Those penguin underlings are all..."

"No, he suddenly contacted a newcomer to Lungmen. He must be trying to deal with old forces like mine. Otherwise, why wouldn't that penguin come to work with me?"

Judging Emperor by his own standards, Hogg assumed he was another underworld figure like himself. He had never seriously considered that Emperor was merely the ordinary head of a logistics company, an ordinary rapper, and had never considered himself part of a criminal syndicate.

Gathering all his filthy thoughts together, Hogg naturally reached a conclusion.

A childish conclusion.

"Rather than sit here and wait for death, I should strike first—"

"Boss, someone wants to kill you. His name is Hogg. I only remembered the name... Oh, right, he blew up your car."

"Hm?"

The other end of the call immediately fell into immense confusion and fury.

"Don't know him, but he blew up my car, so..."

"You really don't know him? He seems to have a huge grudge against Penguin Logistics. He even wants to assassinate you."

"Texas, at least twenty-one people want me dead every week. I've become friends with half of them. You're asking me whether I know the name of one particular enemy—would you remember how many Pocky sticks you've eaten?"

"If half your enemies eventually become your friends, what about the other half?"

"Heh heh."

Emperor did not answer that question directly.