都市の外周部にある広場に大勢のハンターが集まっている。そこにはアキラの姿もあった。
都市と荒野の接点でもある広場はかなり広く、多くのハンターが定期的に集まることもあって、彼らを相手にする移動店舗なども集まっている。この場のハンターの大半はハンターオフィスから依頼を請け負った者達であり、広場は依頼の集合場所となっていた。
ハンター達への依頼の
ハンターランク10。駆け出し未満、素人同然の評価のハンターが請け負える依頼は、当然ながら限られている。そのアキラが受けた依頼はクガマヤマ都市周辺の巡回だ。ハンターオフィスが用意した車両に乗って荒野を巡回し、都市周辺のモンスターを間引くのが主な仕事内容だ。
この依頼はモンスターと遭遇しなかった場合でも基本報酬が支払われる。更に遭遇した場合は討伐内容に応じた追加報酬が加わる。実力の乏しい者でも運が良ければ車に乗っているだけで金が手に入る上に、運悪く多数のモンスターと遭遇しても、他のハンターと協力して戦えるので比較的生存率が高い。また金と実績を求めるのならば他のハンターよりも早く多くモンスターを倒せば良い。
ある意味で、成り上がろうと意気込む駆け出しハンター達にとても都合の良い依頼だ。死なない程度に心を折られた結果、死なずに済むという意味においても。
情報端末の普及により依頼の手続きを情報端末経由で済ませるハンターも増えてきた。その
時間になるとハンターオフィスの職員が拡声器でハンター達に指示を出す。
「並んでハンター証を提示してくれ! 指定された番号の車に乗り込むこと! 出発時刻までは好きにして構わないが、乗り遅れた場合は依頼放棄と
列を離れて指定された車に向かう途中に、アルファが微妙な表情でアキラには少し気になることを口に出す。
『14か。アキラらしい番号と言うべきなのかしらね』
『どういう意味だ?』
『気にしないで。ちょっとした意味のある数字というだけよ』
『......その数字にどういう意味があるんだ?』
『気にしないで。大丈夫。私に任せておきなさい。私のサポートさえあれば大丈夫よ。頑張って生還しましょう』
初めの内は少し首を
みを浮かべるだけで、数字の意味を説明しようとはしなかった。
指定された14番車両は荒野仕様の大型トラックだ。屋根のない荷台の両端に安っぽい長椅子が備え付けられている。荷台には既に他のハンター達が乗り込んでいた。そのハンター達の何名かが、荷台に乗り込もうとするアキラに何となく視線を向けた。
至近距離にいる大勢の武装した者達。交戦すれば自力での勝ち目など無いに等しい者ばかり。アキラが無意識に最悪の事態を想像して緊張を高める。するとアルファがアキラの目の前で急に服装を変えた。
『アキラ。ここが
『アルファ。何で急に服を変えたんだ?』
アルファが軽くポーズを取ってアキラに笑いかける。
『似合ってる?』
く代わり映えのない荒野をひたすら見続けることになるアキラを気遣って、私がアキラの視界に彩りを添えているのよ。どう? 視界に欠けている彩りのなさを、私1人で書き換える華やかさでしょう?』
確かに華やかさは加わった。それはアキラも認める。だがそれ以上に不自然さが過剰供給されている
アキラが気を切り替えようとした時、隣に座っているハザワというハンターが不機嫌な様子で舌打ちする。
「またガキかよ! どうなってるんだ? この車は大外れか!?」
近くにいたハンターが軽く笑いながら
同じ車両に役立たずが乗っている。その認識は一致していたが、その先の判断までは一致していなかった。ハザワが周囲のハンター達を、特にアキラを含めた若手ハンター達を見ながら声を上げる。
「俺は安全にやりたいんだよ! 最近クズスハラ街遺跡にここらでは見慣れないモンスターが住み着いて、周辺地域のモンスターの分布が変化したって話も聞く! それが落ち着くまで安全にやって何が悪い! そんな状況でこんなガキだらけの班に配置されるなんて、大外れに決まってる!」
アキラがトラックの荷台を見渡して同乗者を改めて確認すると、アキラと同世代の若手ハンターが結構混ざっていた。
の稼ぎを逃し大成を遠ざける悪癖でもあるが、死を招く過ぎた欲を抑える歯止めでもある。それなりの経験を積んだハンター達はハザワの臆病さを軽く笑いながらも、その反応に理解を示していた。
だがカツヤという若手ハンターはそれを笑い飛ばせなかった。怒りの表情でハザワに食ってかかる。
「馬鹿にするな! 俺のハンターランクは19だ! 装備だってお前達が使ってるような安物じゃない! お前らとは装備も実力も違うんだ!」
カツヤは自分の実力に自信を持っており、確かにそれなりの実力を身に着けていた。だが若手だという理由で軽んじられることも多く、ハザワの言動が
ハザワがカツヤ達を見て小馬鹿にする。
「ふん。お前らドランカムのガキ連中だろう。ベテラン連中の尻に引っ付いて数字だけ上げたガキどものハンターランクなんか信用できるか」
ドランカムはクガマヤマ都市を中心に活動しているハンター徒党だ。多数のハンターが所属している比較的大規模な組織で、その組織力を生かして多くの成果を上げていた。
ハンターオフィスはそのような大きな影響力を持つハンター徒党を比較的優遇している。長期に
ハンターオフィスはそのハンター徒党も管理している。そして徒党を評価する指針の一つに、所属しているハンター達のハンターランクがある。主にハンターランクの平均値と総和だ。それにより、ベテランが比較的ハンターランクを上げやすい新人と一緒に依頼を引き受けて、ある意味で実績の横流しを行い、新人のハンターランクを意図的に効率よく引き上げることで、徒党のハンターランクの平均値を上げる手段が横行していた。
ハンターオフィスはその行為をある程度黙認していた。視点を変えれば後進の育成でもあるからだ。引き上げられた評価に相応する危険度の依頼を徒党が完遂している限り、大きな問題にはしなかった。
いはお前だろ! 初めから他のハンターに倒してもらう気でいるじゃねえか!」
ハザワとカツヤは不毛な言い争いを続けて互いの
「カツヤ。それ以上そんな雑魚に構う必要はない」
カツヤはユミナ達に少し不服そうな顔を浮かべただけだった。だが雑魚呼ばわりされたハザワはそれでは済まず、強い
「3人ともいい加減にしろ」
シカラベは他のハンター達とは装備も風格も異なっており、熟練した実力者の雰囲気を漂わせている。カツヤ達の引率役として同乗しているドランカム所属のハンターで、悪く言えば子守だ。
シカラベが面倒そうな表情で周囲に視線を送る。それだけで、下手をすると乱闘が始まりそうだった空気が完全に
「こいつらの面倒は俺が見る。お前らに迷惑は掛けない。以上だ」
他のハンター達は明らかに格上のハンターの宣言に渋々引き下がった。それを見たカツヤとアイリが少し得意になっていた。
ハンターオフィスの職員が運転席から荷台へ向けて叫ぶ。
「時間だ! 今から出発する! これから騒ぐやつは依頼放棄と
『アキラの運が悪いからかもね』
『......いや、なんか強そうなハンターも同乗しているんだから、俺の不運は関係ないはずだ』
巡回依頼はモンスターの討伐実績から個別に報酬を算出する。基本的に獲物は早い者勝ちだ。モンスターの撃破判定と倒したハンターの識別は、車載の情報収集機器などで収集した情報から総合的に判定する。ハンター達が一斉射撃で獲物を倒した場合など、正確な討伐者が不明な場合、報酬は倒した可能性のある者で山分けになる。或いは乗車しているハンター全員で均等に分配する。一応判定や分配に文句を付けないことも依頼内容に含まれている。
倒したモンスターの死体や残骸は、一応戦利品扱いでハンターオフィスに所有権がある。これはハンターが依頼の途中にそれらを持ち帰ろうとして予定を遅らせるのを予防する
トラックは順調に巡回を続けていた。何度かモンスターと遭遇したが単体や遠方からの接近が大半で、ハンター達の遠距離射撃で片が付いた。
ハザワは隣に座っているアキラをドランカムの一員だと勘違いしていた。不機嫌そうな態度でアキラを他所に
「そうなのか? お前も子供じゃないか」
「子供だって金は要る。ハンターランクの低い子供でも受けられる依頼はそんなに多くない。あいつらと同じ車に乗っているのは単なる偶然だ」
「それならその強化服は何だ? ドランカムからの借り物とかじゃないのか?」
強化服は安物でもそれなりに高額だ。少なくとも駆け出しハンターに買える額ではない。アキラのような子供なら
滲
ハザワがアキラの切実な思いを、覚悟を、決意を感じ取って少し引き気味になる。
宿泊費を切り詰めた程度で強化服を購入できるのか。普段なら浮かんでいたその素朴な疑問は、アキラの気迫に押されていたハザワの頭には浮かんでこなかった。
カツヤが狙撃銃で遠距離のモンスターを狙う。しっかり狙って引き金を引いたが、車体の揺れ、目標との距離、本人の腕などによって、弾丸は目標から大きく外れた。
「外れか。難しいな」
「次は私の番」
「待ってくれ! 次は当てる!」
獲物の撃破は早い者勝ちだが、狙っているのはカツヤだけだ。これは銃の有効射程の違いによるものだ。つまり、ドランカム所属の若手ハンター達の装備が他のハンター達より優れているのは事実だった。
カツヤは何度か狙撃を続けたが、モンスターは被弾せずにトラックとの距離を詰めていく。他のハンター達が銃を構え始めた辺りで、ドランカム所属の若手ハンター達が少し長めの有効射程を生かして一斉射撃でモンスターを撃破した。消費した弾薬費から考えると、採算が取れているかどうかは微妙だ。
カツヤが自分だけで倒しきれなかったことに残念そうにしながら銃を下ろすと、アイリがカツヤの方に手を伸ばす。
「......分かったよ」
カツヤが銃をアイリに渋々渡す。ユミナがその様子を見て苦笑していた。
ドランカムの若手ハンター達は銃の性能を生かして獲物を独り占めしていた。獲物は早い者勝ち。ハンター稼業は実力社会。獲物を譲る義理も義務もない。だが他のハンター達の機嫌を損ねないかと言えば、別の話だ。
ハザワがカツヤ達の様子を見て不機嫌そうに
「ガキどもが。調子に乗りやがって......。ああ、お前に言った訳じゃないぞ?」
ハザワは隣にアキラがいることを思い出して軽く付け加えた。アキラに気にした様子はなかった。
「そうか。そういえば、お前の銃もAAH突撃銃だな。俺もなんだよ」
ハザワが自分の銃をアキラに見せる。確かに同じAAH突撃銃だが、アキラの銃と比べると整備状態にかなりの違いがあった。それでも自分の愛用の銃と同じ銃の使用者を見付けて機嫌を良くしている。
「良い銃だよな。名銃だ。安い銃だと馬鹿にするやつもいるが、高い銃を使えば良いってものじゃない。高い銃を使ったって腕が追いつかないなら、外すやつは外す」
み、それに気付いたハザワがカツヤを小馬鹿にするように笑う。
アキラが何となく自分の意見を口に出す。
「移動中のトラックの揺れる荷台から遠距離のモンスターを狙うんだ。簡単に命中したりはしないだろう」
くするとアキラ達の受持範囲にモンスターが現れた。大きめの肉食獣のような風貌のモンスターがトラックに気付いてアキラ達の方へ勢いよく向かってくる。
『どれぐらいサポートする? 普段の訓練とは違う
『あら、そんなことを言われると、私もアキラに私のサポートの有効性を見せ付けないといけないわね。任せなさい』
アキラが揺れる荷台の上で銃を構え、照準器を
アキラが引き金を引く動作に入る。それを読み取ったアルファが荷台の揺れを計算に入れて強化服を操作する。限界まで出力を上げた強化服が、アキラの体勢と構えている銃を精密に固定した。
アキラが引き金を引く。撃ち出された弾丸は、アルファのサポートによる極めて高度な精密射撃により、遠距離のモンスターの弱点部位に正確に命中した。更に2度引き金を引く。計3発の銃弾は異常とも思える命中精度で、移動しているモンスターの同一箇所に狂いなく着弾した。最後の弾丸はモンスターの頭蓋骨を突き抜けて脳まで達していた。モンスターは被弾のたびに負傷を軽傷、重傷、致命傷と悪化させて、派手に崩れ落ちて絶命した。
ハザワは崩れ落ちたモンスターの姿を見て、驚きの余り少し引きつった笑顔を浮かべた。この距離で当たるとは
アキラが銃を下ろして何でもないことのように答える。
「名銃だからな」
『そうか? アルファと出会ってから驚くことばっかりだったからな。多分俺もそろそろ慣れてきたんだろう』
『そう? それなら、その内すぐにまた驚かせてあげるわ』
アルファはそう言っていつものように楽しげに笑った。アキラはアルファに下手に反応して不審者とならないように平然としている。
アルファを視認できない他者から見たそのアキラの様子は、非常に高難度の狙撃を
都市周辺の巡回を終えたトラックが進路を都市に戻している。既に荷台のハンター達は警戒を解いていた。気を抜いて無駄話を始める者も多く、荷台は少々騒がしくなっていた。
カツヤがアキラを見ている。アキラもそれに気付いていたが無視していた。
『アキラ。さっきから見られているわね』
『そうね。単に自分達以外の子供が珍しいだけかもしれないわね』
アキラはカツヤ達のことを不用意に騒いで面倒事を起こす者達だと判断している。向こうから干渉してこない限り関わる気はなかった。
面倒事を起こす人物という意味では、先日シェリル達の拠点で騒ぎを起こしたアキラの方がより
『少なくとも風呂付きの部屋に泊まれる金額にはまだまだ遠いわね。前みたいにモンスターの群れに襲撃されたりすれば報酬額も跳ね上がるけれど』
『勘弁してくれ。あんなことは二度と御免だ』
アキラはモンスター襲撃時のぎりぎりの体験を思い出して顔を
『強化服が手に入ったから、次は走って逃げられると思うわ』
『嫌だ。俺の脚が千切れたらどうするんだ』
『その時は千切れる前に回復薬を使いましょう。千切れるまでかなりの時間が稼げるはずよ』
『具体的な対処方法は、その状態を避ける方法で考えてくれ』
「なあ、あいつがモンスターを倒した時のことだけど、見てたか?」
アイリが首を横に振って簡潔に答える。
ユミナが不思議そうに聞き返すと、カツヤが少し残念そうな表情を浮かべた。
「2人とも見てないのか」
「私達は索敵の訓練をしてたからね。反対側は見ていなかったわ。......カツヤもそうだったはずよね? どうして反対側に出てきたモンスターが倒されるのを見ていたの? サボってたわね?」
「しっかりしてよ。私達はチームを組むんだからね。多少のミスは補い合うのがチームだと言っても、私がカツヤのミスをフォローするのも限度があるのよ?」
カツヤは説教の体勢に入ったユミナを見て、助けを求めるような視線をアイリに送る。アイリが空気を読まないように口を挟む。
「何が気になるの?」
カツヤがユミナの長くなりそうな説教を遮る
ユミナはアイリの助け船に気付いて、仕方がないなというように軽く笑った。
カツヤからアキラの射撃についての話を聞いたアイリが軽く考えてから答える。
「あの距離で偶然でも当たるものなのか?」
「AAH突撃銃の有効射程ではある。偶然当たる可能性はある。それに命中はしていないかもしれない。近くの地面に当たって、驚いたモンスターが体勢を崩して地面に倒れて首の骨を折ったのかもしれない。他のハンターがほぼ同時に狙撃したのかもしれない。彼が意図的に狙い、命中させたとは考えにくい」
「そうか。でも俺にはあいつが当てたように見えたんだけどな」
「私はそれを見てないから、偶然としか言えない。それに......」
「別に狙って当てたとしても、私達には関係ない」
ユミナが少し不思議そうに尋ねる。
「どうしてカツヤはそのことをそんなに気にしてるの?」
カツヤがアキラを気にしたのはハザワの態度が原因だ。自分達を子供だという理由で明確に馬鹿にしていた者が、アキラに対してはどこか認めるような態度を取っていたからだ。アキラがモンスターを倒した後はそれが更に顕著になった。
同じ子供なのにアキラは認められ、自分は認められない。カツヤはそれが単に気に入らなかったのだ。しかしそれを正直に話すのも
「それなら良い」
ユミナ達もカツヤがごまかそうとしていることぐらい分かっていた。しかし
め事にするだけ損だ。強そうなやつも近くにいるしな」
「......まあそうだな。しかしお前みたいなやつもいれば、あいつらみたいなガキもいる。何でこう違うかね」
「そうか? 俺には大違いに見えるけどな」
「同じだ。程度の差はあっても命懸けで荒野に出ていることに違いはないんだ。本人にその自覚がないとしてもだ。遺跡探索の運と実力。モンスターを相手にする運と実力。面倒事を処理する運と実力。賭け金が高くて勝率が低いほど報酬は大きくなる。それはあいつらも同じだ。荒野に出ている以上、ああいう連中と遭遇することもあるだろう。俺達にああいう連中を避ける実力も出会わずに済む運もなかった。それだけだ。そして何事もなく戻ってこられる運はあった。それだけだ」
アキラはそれだけ言って心情を隠すように黙った。
ど自身への言い訳だった。
ハンター徒党に属する最大の利点は他者のサポートを受けられる点になる。その点で比較すれば、アルファのサポートを受けている自分は、カツヤ達とは比較にならないほどの優遇を受けている。
わらず、カツヤ達は遊んでいるように見えるほど余裕を持って楽しく過ごしている。それを少し羨ましく思ったのも事実だった。
アキラの銃は自分と同じAAH突撃銃だ。その銃でアキラがモンスターをあっさり倒した姿をしっかりと見ていた。その時、表向きは平静を保とうとしていたが、内心かなり驚いていた。
自分には同じ銃で同じことは出来ない。あの距離の相手に狙って当てる自信はない。
に整備をしなくてもそこそこの性能を保つAAH突撃銃は確かに名銃だ。しかし整備を怠れば性能は下がるのだ。ハザワには自分の銃が急にみすぼらしく見えていた。
(......こんな銃で荒野に出て、生きて帰ってこられたんだ。俺も運はある方なのかもな)
死を恐れて危険の少ない討伐依頼を受けているのに、
ハザワがカツヤ達に強い不快感を覚えたのは、カツヤ達の態度に成り上がろうとする者の意思を感じたからでもあった。カツヤ達は少なくとも危険を顧みずに成り上がろうとしている。その運と実力が本物ならば、アイリの言葉通りもっと上の領域にすぐに駆け上がる。
(......今日はもう仕事を終わりにして、しっかり銃の整備をしよう。そしてやり直すんだ。あの日夢見たハンターの姿を目指して。運はある方だ。今日こいつらに会ったのも、幸運だったんだ。運命が俺にやり直せと言っているんだ)
事実、ハザワは運のある方だった。だから銃の整備の
A lot of Hunters gathered in an open field near the city, Akira was among them.
The open field was located near the city border right next to the wasteland and since it had a vast area, it was occasionally used as the meeting ground for the Hunters who took certain requests. Many portable shops were also set here. The Hunters gathered here after taking a specific request from the Hunter Office.
It was the duty of the Hunter Office to distribute requests to the Hunters. There were all kinds of requests posted on the net and all the requests had restrictions based on Hunter Rank.
Hunters with Rank 10 were not even considered as real Hunters, it was rank for a complete amateur, as such, the number of requests that a Rank 10 Hunter could take was very limited. The request that Akira took was to patrol around the Kugamayama city. Hunters would join together with other Hunters to patrol the area in a vehicle that the Hunter Office provided. Their main job was to thin out the monsters around the city.
For this request, the pay was guaranteed even if they did not encounter any monster at all. Moreover, they would get more money if they did encounter monsters and eradicated them. So for those who were lacking skills, they could still get paid just by riding the patrol vehicle. And even if they met some monsters, the other Hunters would help them fight those monsters. So in short, they would have a better chance of survival. And for those Hunters who sought glory and money, they just had to kill those monsters faster than anyone else.
As for the new Hunters who wanted to rise up to greatness, this was a perfect request for them. After all, it was not a life-threatening job, so their chance of getting killed was relatively low.
A lot of Hunters completed their request registration through their information terminal. As such, this method of registration became most common among Hunters. But for Akira who was not very skilled in operating his information terminal, it was not as easy. But thanks to Alpha, who was there to operate his information terminal, he just needed to go to the gathering place.
Eventually, a Hunter Office's staff stood up and used a sound amplifier to give instructions to the Hunters who had gathered there.
"Line up and show us your Hunter ID!! After that, get on the vehicle assigned to you! You can do anything you want until the departure, but if you are late in boarding the vehicle, we'll take that as you abandoning the request. Now, form a line!!"
Akira left the line and headed towards his assigned vehicle, midway, Alpha looked a bit curious as she said to Akira.
"Number 14, huh? That does sound like a number for you."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Don't worry, it's just a number with a certain meaning."
"...So what kind of meaning does this number 14 have?"
"It's nothing to worry about. Just leave everything to me. It'll be alright since you have my support. So let's work hard and come back alive!"
At first, Akira just tilted his head in confusion. But he eventually became very bothered by it since Alpha kept telling him to stop worrying about it.
Alpha just kept smiling, there was no sign that she would explain the meaning behind number 14.
The vehicle number 14 was a big truck designed to traverse the wasteland. Its roofless cargo tray was fitted with cheap long benches on both sides. Hunters were already sitting on those long benches. Some of those Hunters stared at Akira as he was about to board the truck.
There were many armed Hunters gathered in his vehicle. Akira thought that those Hunters were so powerful that he would not be able to win against them in a one on one fight. Thus, he could not help but imagine the worst-case scenario which made him nervous. But then Alpha suddenly flew to his front and changed her dress.
"Akira, this seat is empty."
"Alpha, why did you change your dress?"
Alpha struck a pose in front of Akira and smiled at him.
"Does it look good on me?"
"I bet you'll be bored since you'll have to keep looking at the vast and empty wasteland for a long time during this job. So I thought of adding some colours to your views. So what do you think, it's pretty good, isn't it?"
It was true that her swimsuit was pretty good and he admitted that. But its aesthetics were spoiled because it stuck out like a sore thumb among those Hunters.
As Akira was about to forget everything and focus on the present, the Hunter sitting beside him clicked his tongue in annoyance. His name was Hazawa.
"Another kid, huh!! What the heck is going on? It is so unlucky to get assigned to this truck!"
Another Hunter near him then chuckled and mocked Akira.
Although both of them agreed that there were useless Hunters in the truck, they did not agree on their situation. Hazawa looked at the young Hunters around him, especially at Akira, then he shouted.
"I wanted to do a risk-free job, you know!! I heard that new monsters have started appearing in Kuzusuhara ruins and changed the distribution of the monsters there!! That's why I wanted to do a safe job until things returned back to normal, is that too much to ask?! But even so, to think that I would get assigned to this truck filled with kids, this is just too unlucky!!"
Akira looked around to see other Hunters in the truck, he noticed that there were many around his age in this truck.
Hunters mostly did their job in the wasteland. Caution and cowardice would not help Hunters in earning a lot of money. On the other hand, it would keep them away from doing anything that would endanger them. The other experienced Hunters only smiled at Hazawa's behaviour, it was obvious that they understood Hazawa's line of thinking.
But there was one young Hunter, named Katsuya, who could not let that slide. He shouted back at Hazawa in anger.
"Are you kidding me?!! My Hunter Rank is 19!! And I'm not using cheap equipment like yours!! Both of our skills and equipment are on different levels, you know!!"
Katsuya was pretty confident with his own skill, and in reality, he was indeed pretty skilled. But since he was a young Hunter, he was frequently looked down upon. Thus Hazawa's remark now rubbed him the wrong way.
Hazawa looked at Katsuya and the other Hunters and mocked.
"Humph. You're just one of those Drankam brats, right? I know you guys were carried through your ranks by the veteran Hunters, like hell I can trust that Hunter Rank of yours."
Drankam was the biggest operational Hunter gang in the slum. It was a relatively big gang with Hunters as its members. A lot of people used the gang to attain success.
The Hunter Office often gave preferential treatment for such big and influential gangs. Whenever the Hunter Office gives out a big request which would consume both time and a lot of human resources, it would allow such gangs to decide on the team's composition, handling the lack of human resource and even distribution of rewards. After all, it was easier to govern the rowdy Hunters when they were affiliated with a gang. Because of this reason, the Hunter Office was actively recommending Hunters to join a gang, which indirectly led to the formation of such big scale Hunter gangs.
The Hunter Office also managed these Hunter gangs. One of the indicators that the Hunter Office used to evaluate these gangs was the average Hunter Rank of its gang members. Thus it was rather common among the Hunter gangs to let the new Hunters tag along with some veteran Hunters to raise their rank faster, which in turn, would increase the gang's average Hunter Rank.
The Hunter Office had some toleration for such conduct, after all, it was also a method to raise the next generation of Hunters. It was fine as long as the Hunters that got carried, still finished their increasingly difficult requests equivalent to their Ranks in the future.
"It's people like you that will give us trouble!! You just said that you're planning to sit back and let other Hunters kill the monsters for you right from the start, didn't you?!!"
Katsuya and Hazawa were getting more and more agitated as they quarrelled.
"Katsuya, no need to listen to a small fry like him."
Katsuya turned to Yumina and Airi with an annoyed look. But Hazawa got furious when he was called a small fry and glared at Airi. She just ignored it and continued.
"You three, stop there."
Shikarabe's equipment was on a different level compared to the other Hunters in the truck. He gave out an aura of an experienced Hunter too. He was also a member of Drankam and he was here to look over the other children from his gang. In short, he was a babysitter.
Shikarabe looked around him with an annoyance. It was enough to take control of the whole situation that was about to get elevated into a riot.
"I'll be looking over these brats, so they won't give you any trouble."
The other Hunters could only agree since Shikarabe was stronger than them. Looking at the other's reaction, Katsuya and Airi made a smug face.
At the same time, the staff from the Hunter Office shouted from the driving seat.
"It's time!! We're going now!! Anyone who makes ruckus will be kicked out from the truck and considered as abandoning their job!! And also, you from the Drankam!! Be sure to keep your brats in check!! We're leaving now!!"
"Maybe it's because of your bad luck."
"...But there's a strong Hunter with us in this truck. So it should have nothing to do with my bad luck."
The rewards awarded to the Hunters in a patrol request was based on the numbers of monsters they defeated during their patrol. As for the monsters, basically it was first come first served. The Hunter Office identified Hunters who killed the monsters based on the information gathered by the devices installed in the truck. In the cases where the monsters were killed during a salvo or when it was unclear who killed a monster, the reward would be divided between the Hunters who were involved in the salvo or even divided among everyone in the truck. It was also mentioned in one of the clauses in the job request so that the Hunters would not complain during the distribution of the rewards.
As for the corpse of the monsters, they were all sellable goods and the Hunter Office had rights over them. It was for preventing the Hunters from dragging those corpses back home and delaying the patrol. Although there were cases where another group was sent to collect them, most of the time they were just left behind because it was ineffective.
The truck continued patrolling the wasteland. Although they encountered monsters, most were spotted from far away or were just all alone in the middle of the wasteland, thus the Hunters were able to take them out from afar.
Hazawa who was sitting next to Akira mistook him as one of the Drankam's member, thus he tried to get Akira to move away from his side with spite.
"Is that so? But you're also just a brat."
"Even a small kid like me needs money too. There are not many requests that a small kid with low Hunter rank can take. I only got in this truck together with them by pure chance."
"If that's the case, then what's with your augmented suit? Isn't that something that you borrowed from Drankam?"
The reason why Hazawa was suspicious of Akira was because even the cheapest augmented suit was expensive and it was not something that a newbie Hunter would be able to afford, more so for a small kid.
"I-I see. Sorry that I lumped you with those people. Well, I too want to be able to take a bath every day. I can understand your feelings there."
Hazawa was able to feel Akira's resolve and motivation and he was taken aback by it. Hazawa could also see Akira's determination within his eyes.
Although it was weird to be able to buy an augmented suit only by cutting accommodation money, that line of thinking did not even pass Hazawa's mind as he was taken aback by Akira's reaction.
Katsuya was aiming at a monster from afar, he took an aim carefully and pulled the trigger. But since the truck was rocking and distance from the monster, his shot missed the target.
"Missed again, huh. This is hard."
"Next is my turn."
"Wait for a bit!! I'll definitely hit my next target."
Even though it was first come first served, only Katsuya was shooting at the monsters. This was because the range of his rifle was superior among the other Hunters. In short, it showed the difference between the equipment that the Drankam Hunters were using compared to the other Hunters in the truck.
No matter how many shots Katsuya released, the monster kept running towards the truck as none of his shots hit it. When the other Hunters readied their gun to take aim, one of the young Drankam Hunters would finally hit their target because of their superior effective range and kill the monster. But thinking about the number of bullets they wasted, it was uncertain whether they would make any profit at all.
Katsuya lowered his gun while looking disappointed since he could not kill all the monsters by himself. Airi extended her hand towards him again.
"...I know."
As Katsuya reluctantly handed his rifle to Airi, Yumina just smiled bitterly.
The young Hunters of Drankam monopolized the prey because of their better rifle. It was indeed first come first served, the survival of the fittest. There was no rule saying that they should share their prey. But it was a completely different case whether doing so would anger other Hunters or not.
Looking at how Katsuya and his friends were acting, Hazawa mumbled in a bad mood.
"Those brats getting ahead of themselves... Ahh, it's not like I'm saying that to you, you know?"
Hazawa remembered about Akira who was right beside him, thus he said that to Akira in panic. But Akira did not seem to be bothered at all.
"I see, by the way, your gun is also AAH rifle, huh? Mine is also AAH rifle, you see."
Hazawa then showed his gun to Akira. It was indeed another AAH rifle. Although Akira's rifle looked better maintained than his, Hazawa still felt happy to meet someone who was using the same rifle type that he loved.
"It's indeed a good rifle, isn't it? It's a famous gun. Although there are people who look down on it because of its cheap price, it was not like the price is everything. If you suck at shooting, you'll miss even if you use an expensive gun."
Katsuya glared at him and Hazawa who noticed that just chuckled mockingly.
Akira then interjected to say his own opinion.
"We're trying to shoot a monster from a long-range in a moving truck, so it's to be expected that it's not going to be easy."
Not too long after that, a monster was detected from Akira and Hazawa's direction. It was a big burly carnivorous monster, the moment it noticed the truck, it started running vigorously towards them.
"How much support do you want this time? Since you're not in training today, how about trying to shoot it by yourself?"
"Oh my, if you say that, then I have no other choice but to show you how great my support is. So leave it to me."
Akira readied his gun and aimed carefully through its aiming device. The weak points of the monster and the TPLine were shown in his view. Although the rocking of the truck should intensely sway the aim, Akira was able to hold his aim through his rifle's scope on that big monster which was on the very edge of his rifle's effective range. It was possible because Alpha made fine adjustments to compensate for the shaking from the truck.
As Akira was about to pull the trigger, she raised the power of his augmented suit along with her fine adjustments and hardened it to stabilize his aim.
Akira pulled the trigger of his gun. The bullet which flew out from its muzzle was highly accurate thanks to Alpha's support and hit the weak spot of the monster. The same happened for his second shot and third shot. All of his shots hit the moving monster as if it was a miracle. The last bullet went straight through its skull and ripped its brain off. Each bullet shot by Akira worsened the monster's condition from light to severe wounds and finally to fatal wounds. The monster tripped and rolled over before it finally laid dead.
Hazawa was taken by surprise when he saw the monster trip over and die. He never thought that a shot from such distance would even hit the monster.
Akira lowered his gun and replied back as if it was nothing.
"Well, as expected from a famous gun."
"Is that so? Well, I got to see so many surprising things since I met you. So I might've gotten used to it."
"Really? In that case, I'll definitely surprise you in the near future."
After saying that, Alpha smiled teasingly. As for Akira, he tried to keep his cool while reacting to Alpha so as to not make himself look suspicious.
Hazawa was not the only Hunter who was surprised by Akira's skill. From the point of view of people who could not see Alpha, Akira looked like a powerful Hunter doing such a miraculous feat like it was nothing.
After the truck finished patrolling the area assigned to it, it started its return trip to the city. On their way back home, the Hunters in the truck already lowered their guard and started relaxing. Most of them started talking to each other and the truck became a bit noisy.
Katsuya didn't take his eyes off Akira. Akira noticed that but he ignored it.
"Akira. He's looking at you."
"You're right, he might be just looking at you since it's rare to find small kids in this kind of job."
Akira thought that Katsuya and his friends were unsociable and they were the kind of people who would frequently cause problems. As long as they were not the ones taking the initiative, Akira preferred to keep away from them.
But talking about people who would frequently cause problems, Akira was actually worse than them considering the incident that happened in Sheryl's base the other day. He also understood that but he was playing ignorant.
"Well, one thing for sure, it won't be enough to let you sleep in a room with a bath. If only another group of monsters attack you like the other day, would you be able to make a lot of money."
"Give me a break, I don't want to face that kind of situation for a second time."
Akira face twitched as he remembered that he barely survived that fight. But in contrast, Alpha just kept smiling like usual.
"You have an augmented suit this time, so I think you have the choice of running away now."
"No thanks. What would you do if it breaks my legs?"
"Well, let's use medicine on your legs before they break. I think that should buy us enough time before your legs actually break."
"Let me make myself clear, can you please come up with a solution so that I won't get in that situation in the first place?"
"Say, did you look at him when he shot that monster?"
Airi shook her head and answered back.
Yumina asked back curiously, to which, Katsuya replied back with a disappointed face and said.
"So both of you didn't see that, huh?"
"We're here for exploration training after all. So we didn't have the time to look at others... Katsuya, that should be the case for you too, right? So why are you watching someone kill a monster? Were you skipping your training?"
"Get a better grip on yourself, okay? We're a team here so we have to support each other, but even so, there's a limit on how much support I can give you, you know?"
Katsuya saw that Yumina had entered her scolding mode again, thus he glanced at Airi, seeking for help. But Airi asked him a question as if she could not read the mood.
"What's bothering you anyway?"
Katsuya immediately answered back in order to cut short Yumina's scolding.
Yumina noticed that Airi saved Katsuya from her scolding, so she just smiled since she knew that there was nothing she could do.
As Katsuya told them what he saw when Akira shot that monster, Airi thought for a moment before saying.
"Wasn't that just pure luck?"
"It was already within his AAH rifle's effective range and there was a chance that his shot hit by pure luck. Moreover, the shots might have not hit the monster directly too. The bullets might have hit the ground near the monster and the monster was surprised by it thus tripping over and breaking its own neck. Or maybe someone took a shot at that monster at the same time as him. It's hard to believe that he intentionally aimed and hit all his shots at that monster's weak points."
"I see. But it did look like that to me."
"Since it's not like I saw it, I can only say that it might be just coincidence, moreover..."
"Even if he did hit his shots successfully, it has nothing to do with us."
Yumina then asked Katsuya in an annoyed tone.
"By the way, why are you so bothered by that?"
The reason why Katsuya was bothered by Akira was because of Hazawa. It was clear that Hazawa was looking down at them, but even so, it seemed like Hazawa admitted Akira's ability. And that was more obvious after Akira took down that monster.
Although Akira and he were similar-aged Hunters, Hazawa recognised Akira's skill but did not accept his own skills. Katsuya was just simply bothered by this fact. But since it pained him to say that, he just came up with an excuse.
"It's fine as long as you understand."
Although they said that, Airi and Yumina actually knew that Katsuya was trying to evade the real question. But they were swept off their feet by his words and let him get away with that.
"Just let them be. You'll only waste your energy reacting to them, and it'll cause you more trouble if you get in a fight with them. Not to mention that they have brought along another Hunter who looks relatively stronger than anyone here."
"Well, you're correct. But still, there are children like them, and again, there are children like you. I'm just wondering how you guys can be so different from each other like this."
"Is that so? But from my perspective, you look very different compared to them, you know."
"We're the same. Although we behave differently, both of us are children who're staking our lives out in the wasteland. That's a fact, no matter whether someone admits that or not. Our luck and skills to explore the ruins, to fight against the monsters and to get out from a mess are not that different. The more dangerous a request we take, the more rewards we can get. But since we're out in the wasteland, we're bound to meet different kinds of people. We were not lucky enough to avoid problematic people this time, but we're sure lucky enough to get back home, that's all there is to it."
After saying that, Akira went silent as if he was trying to hide his emotion.
Most of the things that he just said were actually directed at himself.
The biggest advantage of joining a Hunter gang was being able to get support from the other Hunters. But if he had to compare that point, Akira with Alpha's support was obviously in a better position.
But even so, looking at the other hunters who were similar to him in age, it was true that Akira felt a bit jealous, especially Katsuya and his friends who were having silly talks and joking around enjoying their trip to the wasteland.
He got a close look at Akira when he used the AAH rifle to easily kill that monster. Although Hazawa looked calm on the outside, he was actually very shaken deep within.
Hazawa knew that he could not do the same feat although he was holding the same rifle. He had no confidence he could hit a target from such a distance. If he was in that situation, he could only spray some bullets hoping to weaken that monster before firing a killing shot. It was impossible for him to defeat the monster with the least amount of bullets like what Akira did. He understood this fact very well.
As expected of a favourite gun, AAH rifle could maintain its performance even when it was not properly maintained. But it was to be expected that the performance of a gun would slowly worsen if it was not properly maintained. When Hazawa looked at his gun, it looked like a shabby gun to him now.
[...I could return back home safely from the wasteland although I'm using this gun, huh. It seems that I'm pretty lucky.]
Although he took this relatively safe patrol job because he was afraid of dying, he did not properly maintain his own gun and went out to the dangerous wasteland. Even though this job did not seem worth the money at first glance, it looked even more unworthy of the money to him now.
One of the reasons why Hazawa was so annoyed watching Katsuya and his friends was because he could feel their determination to raise up as successful Hunters. They still tried to chase a higher position despite all the dangers that they were facing. If they did have the ability and the luck, it would be as Airi said, they would raise up in the Rank in no time.
[...I guess this is it for today, I'll go back home after this and do proper maintenance on my gun. Then I'll redo everything again. I'll once again aim for becoming a Hunter that I was dreaming about. After all, I'm a lucky person. I'm lucky that I was able to meet these brats today, it's as if saying that I should retry again.]
In truth, Hazawa was actually a lucky person. After all, he was able to finish his job for the day and go back to his inn to do proper maintenance of his gun. He was actually luckier than he thought he was.
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/
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