「......クソッ! おい! 500万コロンも支払ったんだぞ!? 何とかしろ!」
それはもう弱音や嘆きに近い言葉だった。そしてその声は
だがその叫びにオリビアから旧領域経由で返事がくる。
『そのような苦情を言われても困ります。料金分の仕事はしました。500万コロンではこの程度ですよ』
返事が来るとは思っていなかったシロウは思わず驚きの顔を浮かべた。だがすぐに非常に険しくも真剣な表情で、僅かな期待を口調に
『......問題は金だけ。そう解釈して良いんだな?』
『追加料金を頂ければ更なる仕事をする余地はあるとの解釈でお願い致します』
に動き、
の
が、前方から迫る光の奔流を一刀両断した。オリビアの機体に搭載されている旧世界製のジェネレーターから力を得た光の刃は、人型兵器複数台分のジェネレーターから生み出された光の波にあっさり打ち勝った。
光波と光刃が衝突し、光波が無数の支流に枝分かれして周囲に飛び散らされる。飛び散った光線が周りの建物に激突して破壊の限りを尽くした。光刃は勢いを弱めながらも光の奔流を裂きながら前進し、機体まで届いて砲を損傷させた。
「何なんだあの女は!? まさか、最前線の連中か!?」
「そうかもな。明言はされていないが、俺達が追っていたやつは坂下重工所属の旧領域接続者らしい。何らかの事情で逃げているらしいが、逃亡なんて下手をすれば坂下を敵に回す行為だ。それだけのことをするなら事前にいろいろ手配ぐらいしていても不思議はない。ここで合流する予定だったのかもな」
通信越しに
「まあ、何だ。時間稼ぎはちゃんとやったんだ。後は同類に任せておこうぜ」
「......そうだな。本当に最前線の連中だったとしたら、
くビルに残って外の様子を確認しながらゆっくり帰る予定だった。だがアキラが険しい顔で即時の移動を提案した。
キャロルの護衛として、キャロルだけでも無理
カナエが自分達の後方の様子を見て楽しげに笑っている。
「おー。随分派手にやってるっすねー。中々の迫力っす」
カナエの視線の先では人型兵器の部隊と遺跡の機械系モンスター達が苛烈に交戦し続けている。銃弾や砲弾にエネルギー弾や小型ミサイルまで飛び交う戦場はミハゾノ街遺跡の難易度を大幅に超えていた。戦闘の余波でビルが幾つか倒壊までしていた。
単体の火力では人型兵器の方が上だ。だが数は多脚戦車型の都市防衛兵器の方が上だ。今のところ総火力では人型兵器の部隊が上回っているが、多脚戦車側には遺跡中から増援が続々と集まってきており油断は出来ない状況だ。
「あ、私達がさっきまでいたビルが崩れたっす。早めに離れて正解だったっすね。アキラ少年。すぐに離れた方が良いって、どうして分かったっすか?」
「別に信じなくて良いぞ。仮に本当の理由があったとしてもそれを話す仲でもないしな。それはそっちも同じだろう?」
実際に、アキラの返事はほぼ
シロウは再びオリビアに抱えられて遺跡の外を目指していた。追っ手が遺跡の損害を考慮しないのであれば荒野の方がまだ逃げやすい。後は自身の逃走にオリビアがどこまで付き合ってくれるかで次の行動を考える必要があった。小脇に抱えられながら、少し険しい表情で尋ねる。
「なあ、さっきの戦闘は幾らぐらいの仕事になったんだ?」
「申し訳御座いません。無用なトラブルを避ける
「その辺を下手に答えると請求時に面倒事になり兼ねないってのは分かるんだけどさ、俺としては料金分だからってそこらで突然投げ出されても困るんだけどな」
「追加の支払いは常時受け付けております。後から小出しにするのではなく先に一括で支払われた方が結果的には費用も安く済みます。不安でしたら、その辺りも含めて是非ともご検討を」
シロウが苦笑いを浮かべる。オリビアに支払った1500万コロンは今までコツコツと
「オーラムで良ければ追加で100億ぐらいすぐに支払えるんだけど、駄目?」
駄目で元々の質問に予想通りの返答が戻ってきただけだ。シロウはそう思いながらも苦笑を浮かべて一応食い下がる。
「オーラムは企業通貨とはいえ、一応クズスハラ街の統治系管理人格も受け取ってる通貨なんだ。その辺を考慮して、何とかなったりしない?」
「その件は存じております。しかし当社はその地域通貨に関して、区画844上位管理体から価値の保証等を受けてはおらず、その予定も御座いません。該当の地域通貨での支払いをご希望であれば、その管理体による価値の保証等の提示をお願い致します」
統治系管理人格が企業通貨を受け取っていることと、その価値を保証していることには、その意味に途方も無い隔たりがある。ある統治系管理人格がその価値を保証したのであれば、他の管理人格も一定の価値を認める可能性が高まる。他の管理人格がコロンではなくオーラムでの取引に応じるようになれば、オーラムの価値は飛躍的に上昇する。スガドメがツバキとの交渉ルート作製を条件にしてシロウにある程度の自由を与えているのもその辺りの事情があった。
自分の目的には遠回りになるが、そちらの方も少し着手しておけば良かった。そう思ってシロウは少し後悔した。
遺跡の中をかなり高速で駆けていたオリビアが、荒野との境目辺りで急停止する。抱えられていたシロウが急停止の慣性を受けて軽く
「......おい、ちょっと待て、まさかここで料金分だ、なんて言わないよな?」
「いえ、この場で料金分になりそうです」
「おいおいおい、冗談だろ!? 追加で1000万コロンも支払ったんだぞ!? 幾ら何でも早すぎるだろう!?」
「それだけの相手のようですので仕方ありません。お客様を守りながら戦っても良いのですが、
「バレてるのか。最前線並みに高性能な迷彩のはずなんだがな」
シロウは思わず声の方向に視線を向けた。その視線の先の景色の一部が
「や、やあ、ハーマーズ。久しぶり。......な、何でこんな場所に?」
ハーマーズが笑いながらシロウにゆっくりと近付いていく。シロウは思わず
シロウは事前にハーマーズの居場所を調べてからミハゾノ街遺跡に来ていた。ハーマーズが近くにいると知っていたら、ここには絶対に来ていなかった。
ハーマーズがどこか機嫌良く笑いながら更にシロウへ近付いていく。
「ああ、それか。ヤナギサワってやつに俺の位置の偽装を頼んだんだ。正直な話、相手がお前だから偽装の効果なんて
「......後でって、いつ頃?」
「さあ? お前がやらかした負債を返し終えた後じゃないか?」
シロウが首から上だけの状態で生命維持装置に
「こ、殺すなよ?」
「相手次第だ」
オリビアとハーマーズが同じ返事を口に出し、それを聞いて僅かに笑う。どちらかが死ぬとしても、それは相手の方だ。そういう意味だということは、どちらにも伝わっていた。
シロウが覚悟を決めて走り出す。ハーマーズの横を通って遺跡の外へ向かおうとする。
それを止めようとするハーマーズの動きと、それを更に止めようとするオリビアの動きに、ハーマーズとオリビアが同時に反応する。それを契機に、超人と呼ばれる存在と、それに比類する存在の戦闘が始まった。
アキラ達はバイクでミハゾノ街遺跡を脱出した後、キャロルのキャンピングカーに乗り込んでクガマヤマ都市に向かっていた。キャンピングカーは大規模な戦闘の反応を探知した時点で自動操縦により遺跡から離れており、遺跡の戦闘に巻き込まれずに済んでいた。
レイナ達は車の屋根から遺跡の様子を眺めている。高性能な情報収集機器の望遠機能でも、大気中の色無しの霧の成分の影響で詳細な画像は得られない。だが戦闘の余波が大きすぎる
シオリとカナエの視線がレイナに向けられる。カナエは少し意外そうにしており、シオリはかなり険しい様子を見せていた。
「お嬢様。それは......」
「シオリ。いろいろ片が付くまで私が部外者の方が都合が良いってのは分かるわ。でも話して。私はまだまだいろいろと未熟で、だから話せないのなら、仕方が無いから諦める。でも話してくれないのなら、私は何も受け取らない。その資格は無いからね」
レイナはそう言って、真っ
苦笑を浮かべたレイナに、シオリは恭しく頭を下げた。
カナエがニヤニヤしている。それに気付いたレイナはどこかふてぶてしく笑ってみせた。するとカナエは意外そうな顔を浮かべた後に、楽しげに笑った。
"...Dammit! Hey!! I've paid you 5 million Chrome, you know?! Do something about this!"
It was close to a desperate whine. With his voice not able to propagate through the forcefield armour, what he was doing was in vain.
Or so it should have been, but Olivia replied through the old-world domain connection.
"Even if you tell me so. I've done enough for what I've been paid already. It is equal to only this much, you see."
Shirou raised his eyebrows. He did not expect Olivia to reply. But his expression quickly turned stern as he hopefully asked a question.
"...So, the problem is only money, huh? Is it okay if I interpret it as such?"
"Indeed, it also means that I'm willing to work more if you're willing to pay me more."
"...They... They would go that far, huh?"
--*--*--*--
But that did not mean she could not react to it. At the same time the powered suits opened fire, Olivia swung her light blade forward. With that one swing, she split the pillar of light that was coming at her. The light blade supplied by Olivia's old-world generator was easily able to overwhelm that beam of light, which had been powered by multiple powered suits' generators.
When the blade and the laser clashed. The laser beam broke into multiple streams, which spread indiscriminately. They hit the buildings and the rubbles around the area, evaporating them. Although the light blade weakened from that clash, it still extended forward until it eventually reached the powered suits and destroyed them.
"What in the world is she!? Don't tell me that she's from the eastern front line or something?!"
"That might as well be the case. Although we were not told, I heard that the one we're pursuing is an old-world connector from Sakashita Heavy Industry. It seems that he somehow managed to run away from them, seriously though, running away from Sakashita might as well mean picking a fight with Sakashita. It wouldn't be weird if he had prepared something like this. They might have agreed to meet up here."
Their sighs could be heard overlapping from the communication device.
"Well. What can I say... We did well to slow them down, we can just leave the rest to them."
"...You're right. If she is really from the eastern front line, there's no way we can stop them. It'll at least be a good excuse as to why they got away."
Originally, they were planning to watch the situation from inside the building for a bit before carefully returning back. However, Akira suggested with a solemn expression to leave that place immediately.
Since Akira even said that as Carol's bodyguard, he would take her by force if needed, the rest knew that there was no time to even ask for the reason and immediately abide by Akira's plan. It did not take long for them to head for the exit, they already started moving just a moment after Olivia and Shirou jumped off from the hole Olivia made. They then hopped on Akira's bike without even asking where it was heading to.
Kanae looked at the ensuing battle behind them with an amused smile.
"Ohh, they're going at it pretty hard. Not bad."
Kanae was watching the powered suits that were locked in an intense battle with the old-world mechanical monsters. The warheads, energy bullets, and the mini-missiles that they were exchanging exceeded what was the norm in Mihazono ruin. The explosions from that battle were enough to blow away several buildings.
If it was a matter of firepower, the powered suits had the upper hand. But the multi-legged tank monsters with the other security drones of the ruin had the numerical advantage. At the moment, the powered suits still had control of the fight thanks to their firepower, but with more and more monster reinforcement slowly gathering, the powered suits could not afford to lower their guards.
"Ah, the building that we were in just got blown off. It was the right choice to leave right away. Akira-boy, how did you know that we should leave without delay back then?"
"I don't really care if you don't believe me. Even if I have another reason, we're not that close as to warrant me to tell the rest of the story anyway. I know you think so too, right?"
In truth, Akira was lying. The reason why he decided to leave that building right away was because of Alpha, Akira was only following what Alpha had told him.
Shirou once again returned under Olivia's arm as they headed outside the ruin. If the pursuers did not care about the damage that they did to the ruin, then it was easier to get away from them out in the wasteland. With that being said, Shirou still needed to make a plan on what to do next depending on how far Olivia would help in his escape. Because of that, he had a frown on his face as he was tucked under Olivia's arm.
"Say, just how much did that battle cost me?"
"My apologies. In order to avoid trouble, we decline questions regarding the details such as how much each small action costs while we're in the middle of the contract."
"I can understand that it might cause trouble during the calculation of the total payment if you give me a bad answer, but to be honest, it would be troublesome for me if you suddenly throw me in the middle of nowhere while saying that you did enough for what you were already paid."
"We're open to extra payment anytime. Rather than paying it in smaller portions later, it's cheaper if you pay the whole sum beforehand. If you're not sure, please consider this as well."
Shirou laughed bitterly. The 15 Million Chrome that he had spent on Olivia was all the savings he had. He literally had no more money that he could offer. In the first place, he never planned to use his Chrome savings. So it would definitely cause him more trouble in the future.
"If you're okay with Aurum, I can pay you 10 billion Aurum right away though? Is that not good enough?"
For Shirou, that answer was exactly what he had expected when he made that suggestion. As he continued to ponder, he just made a bitter smile and did not make any counteroffer.
"Although Aurum is a corporation-issued currency, the caretaker AI in Kuzusuhara ruin is accepting that currency, so like, with that in mind, can you at least find a way to accept it?"
"I was indeed already informed regarding that matter. But regarding that currency, we have not received any guarantee on its value from the sector 844 high-level management division. Thus, we have no plan to review that currency. If you're insisting on paying with that currency, please receive the sign of guarantee for that currency's value from the aforementioned division and show it to me first."
There was a big difference in meaning between a government AI accepting a corporation-issued currency and guaranteeing the value of that currency. If one of those government AI guaranteed the value of that currency, there was a good chance that other AIs would accept that currency. If there was an AI that would accept Aurum instead of Chrome for their trade, the value of Aurum would greatly go up. This was also the reason why Sugadome was willing to let Shirou roam free as long as he would create a negotiation route with Tsubaki.
Although his own goal was getting a bit further, it might be a good idea to at least start doing something for it. Shirou, who thought so, felt frustrated.
Olivia blazed through the ruin at a relatively high speed, but she suddenly came to a sudden halt right around the boundary between the ruin and the wasteland. Shirou could not help but grunt from the pain because of the sudden stop.
"...Whoah, wait for a sec, don't tell me that this is as far as you're going, right?"
"No, it's just that it seems that this will take the rest of the payment."
"You gotta be kidding me, right!? I've even added 10 million Chrome, you know!? Isn't this a bit too short!?"
"It's not like I can do anything about it considering the opponent that we have to face. I can certainly fight while protecting you, but as expected, that would cost way too much. As such, I'll stop carrying you from here on out. The rest is up to you."
"Oh, you found out, huh? This is actually a camouflaging coat from the front line though."
Shirou inadvertently looked in the direction of that voice's source. A part of his views suddenly distorted and a figure of a man appeared when he disengaged his camouflaging coat, seeing that man's face, Shirou exclaimed.
"Y-yo there Hammerz, long time no see... So, why are you here?"
Hammerz smiled and slowly approached Shirou, who inadvertently stepped back.
Shirou came to Mihazono ruin only after he investigated where Hammerz was. Had he known that Hammerz was nearby, he would never have thought of coming there.
Hammerz's smile deepened as he took another step closer.
"Oh, about that, huh. I asked that Yanagisawa guy to fake my location. To be honest, since it's you we're talking about, I didn't expect much result from that, but seeing your reaction, it seems like it did work out, huh? I honestly didn't expect that at all. That guy is pretty good. I heard not only Sakashita, but Tatsumori and Tsukida are also trying to recruit him. I guess this explains why that is the case."
"...After that, huh? How long after are we talking here?"
"No idea. I bet it's after you paid for all the commotion  that you've caused."
Shirou could not help but cower when he imagined being left with only his head and forced to work while being connected to a life support system. Though he already made his resolve when he escaped, it was still a scary scene to imagine.
"Uh, d-don't kill anyone, pretty please?"
"That would depend on the opponent."
Olivia and Hammerz gave the same reply at the same time and lightly smiled. After all, they both thought if anyone would die here, it would be their respective opponent. And that thought was transmitted clearly to each other.
Shirou made his resolve and ran away. His destination was out of the ruin and into the wasteland, which meant that he would have to get past Hammerz.
But Hammerz quickly stepped in to block him and Olivia quickly reacted to stop Hammerz from doing so. As both reacted simultaneously, it became the trigger to start the fight between the two. A fight between someone who could be called superhuman against another being that was made similar to a superhuman.
After Akira and the others left Mihazono ruin on Akira's bike, they boarded Carol's camping car and head back to Kugamayama city. The camping car was already moving away from the ruin the moment it detected a large-scale battle back in the ruin, thanks to that, they were able to safely leave the ruin.
Reina, Shiori, and Kanae were watching the ruin from the top of the camping car. Due to the colourless mist, even the long-range image capture function of their expensive information-gathering devices could not get a clear image. They could not even produce a high enough resolution image to know how badly damaged the ruin got due to the battle.
Shiori and Kanae quickly turned to Reina. Kanae had a surprised look on her face while Shiori looked utterly worried.
"Milady, that is..."
"Shiori, I know that it's better for me to stay as an outsider until this reaches its conclusion. But tell me. If you're saying that you can't tell me because I'm still inexperienced, then I'll back off. But as long as I don't know anything, I won't accept anything, after all, I do not deserve any help."
Reina said so while looking straight at Shiori.
Toward Reina, who was smiling bitterly, Shiori gracefully bowed.
Kanae could hardly hold back her lips from curving up. Reina, who noticed that, threw a rather presumptuous irritated smile at Kanae. Nonetheless, Kanae just raised her eyebrows in shock and only giggled after that.
Rebuild World (WN)
リビルドワールド
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/rebuild-world/
Action Adventure Drama Harem Mecha Mystery Sci-fi Seinen
Abandoned Children Adapted to Manga Adventurers Alternate World Anti-social Protagonist Apocalypse Artificial Intelligence Beautiful Female Lead Cautious Protagonist Child Protagonist Dense Protagonist Determined Protagonist Distrustful Protagonist Futuristic Setting Gangs Gunfighters Harsh Training Lack of Common Sense Male Protagonist Manipulative Characters Monsters Near-Death Experience Older Love Interests Poor Protagonist Poor to Rich Ruthless Protagonist Shota Sudden Strength Gain Survival Twisted Personality Unlucky Protagonist Weak to Strong
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9736dt/
非公開