少し離れた場所にアルファがいる。前の夢と同じように、アルファはアキラに気付いていない。
アルファが無表情で何かを話している。
「試行499の評価開始。対象が目標を踏破する確率を試算。1パーセント未満。対象が未踏破で生還する確率を試算。1パーセント未満。不適格。対象の戦力向上を継続する」
「現対象の誘導指針を立案。旧対象がこちらとの契約を破棄した行動原理を考慮に入れること。旧対象が自身の行動を決定、肯定した要素を次のものと推測。旧対象の行動が成功した場合に可能となる不特定多数の人間の幸福、救済の実現とその継続。現対象が旧対象と同一の行動を取る思想を得ないように注意すること」
「なお現対象の人格を考慮すると、現対象が旧対象と同一の思想を得る可能性は低いと判断する。これは現対象の人間不信、他者軽視、自己優先思考から判断。現対象が旧対象と同等の倫理、寛容、道徳、博愛精神を得る可能性は危険域を下回っている」
「試行498を再現させないために、対象の人格の変化に留意すること。以上」
アキラの意識が薄れていく。世界が真っ暗になり、夢が終わった。
アキラは病室で目を覚ました。何か夢を見ていた気がするがその内容は全く覚えていない。前にも似たような夢を見た気がするという感覚があるだけだ。
アキラがいる病室は生身の人間を対象とした個人用のものだ。寝ていたベッドから身を起こすと、アルファが
『お早うアキラ。よく眠れた?』
『お早うアルファ。ああ。久しぶりにたっぷり眠ったって感じだ』
眠気は全くなく非常に体調が良い。負傷は完治していて全く痛まない。アキラの身体は万全の状態だった。
アキラが部屋を見渡す。窓に鉄格子が有るわけでもない。部屋の監視カメラは脱走防止用ではなく患者の容態などの確認用だ。悪い待遇ではない。しかしそれがアキラの状況を完全に肯定するわけではない。
『それで、ここはどこだ?』
『クガマヤマ都市の病院よ。アキラは治療のためにここに運ばれたの』
『そうなのか』
クガマヤマ都市には都市とハンターオフィス両方の息が掛かっている巨大な総合病院が存在する。生身の者や義体者、サイボーグにも対応しているため、必然的に巨大な施設になるのだ。患者の多くは荒野で活動するハンターや危険地域の警備員など、戦闘技術を必要とする者達だ。
この病院の主な役割は病気の治療ではなく戦闘で負った
アキラは都市防衛隊の隊員に連行されている途中で気を失った。遺物襲撃犯だと疑われていたのだ。独房で目を覚ましても不思議ではない状況だった。
『今の俺はどんな扱いになってるんだ?』
『その辺の事情は後で来る人が説明してくれるわ。アキラは安全で、遺物強奪犯の一員だと誤解されてもいない。その点は安心しなさい』
かキバヤシは非常に上機嫌だ。
「また会ったな。相変わらず
な顔でキバヤシを見る。キバヤシはアキラが自分を覚えていないことに気付いた。
「俺だよ。キバヤシだ。ほら、報酬に前払でバイクをやっただろう? 覚えてないか?」
『クガマヤマ都市をクズスハラ街遺跡から出てきたモンスターが襲撃した時に、アキラが緊急依頼を受けて1人でバイクで救援に向かったでしょう? その時のハンターオフィスの職員よ』
アキラはキバヤシの顔など
「思い出した。確かトラックを運転していたハンターオフィスの職員だよな? あの緊急依頼の時の......」
キバヤシが楽しげに
キバヤシはアキラに手を伸ばして握手を求める。アキラが応じると、キバヤシは握った手をぶんぶんと上下に振った。キバヤシは随分と上機嫌だ。
「交渉?」
「そうだ。その前段階として、まずはお前の現在の状況とかいろいろ説明しよう。お前がここにいる理由とか、あの後遺物襲撃犯はどうなったとか、いろいろ知りたいだろう?」
「ああ。教えてくれ」
アキラはキバヤシの言葉に強く
キバヤシがアキラに数枚の紙を手渡す。それは今回の事態の詳細が記述された資料だった。
「細かいことはそれに書いてあるが、まあ読みながら聞いてくれ」
キバヤシも同じ資料を持ちながらアキラに事態の説明を始めた。
アキラとネリアは都市の防衛隊員に確保された後、地下街攻略本部の医療班に引き渡され応急処置を受けた。そしてそのまま重要参考人としてクガマヤマ都市まで輸送された。
ネリアが遺物強奪犯の一員であることはすぐに露見した。他の遺物襲撃犯達が洗い
アキラはネリアの、自分と死闘を繰り広げた人間の態度が少し気になった。
「ネリアだっけ? そいつ、そんなに素直に話したのか?」
「ああ。非常に協力的な態度だったそうだ。幾ら自分の減刑を条件にしているからと言っても余りに協力的だったから、担当した職員が
「私、過去は振り返らない主義なの、だってさ」
アキラが呆れと感心の混ざった表情を浮かべる。
かというか、切替えが早いというか、そういうやつもいるんだな」
「おかげで調査は楽に済んだそうだ。お前の疑惑があっさり晴れたのもそのおかげだ。本当ならもう少し厳密に調べるのが普通だ。そのネリアってやつを取り調べた職員が
「だからってネリアってやつに感謝する気はない。俺はもう少しで殺されるところだったんだ。......そのネリアはこの後どうなるんだ? 今の話を聞くと随分減刑されたみたいだけど、死なずに済むのか? すぐに釈放とかにならないだろうな」
「まさか。極刑にならないだけだ。都市の管理下で強制労働だよ。都市側が用意した義体、義体の操作権限に使用者よりも都市側に高い権限が設定された義体で、脳に爆弾まで埋め込まれて、生殺与奪は
「......。そうか」
アキラはネリアの今後を聞いて、ネリアに止めをさせなかったことに関しては
自業自得とはいえ、あれだけの実力者が身体の自由すら奪われて今後ずっと強制労働を強いられることに、アキラは軽い不満のような感情を抱いた。
キバヤシがアキラの微妙な顔色に気付く。
「......いや」
「ああ、自分の手で殺せないことが不満か? あいつの身柄はもう都市の預かりになってるから、探し出して殺そうなんて考えるなよ? 最悪残りの負債を押しつけられるぞ? やるならあいつが刑期を終えてからにしてくれ」
「大丈夫だ。そんなことで都市に
どはあっさり捕まった。輸送車両も都市が押さえ、積まれていた遺物の回収も済んだ。僅かな仲間が少量の遺物を持ち出して逃げていたが、都市側はネリアの情報により彼らの情報を把握済みだ。彼らが捕まるのは時間の問題だった。
ただし、ケインの行方は完全に不明だった。ネリアから得たケインの情報を基に都市側も調査を進めたが、全て
アキラが意識を失っている間に調査が進み、アキラが遺物強奪犯とは無関係であることが明らかになった。アキラはそのまま病院で治療を受け、ついさっき目覚めたのだ。
「......あいつに関しての説明はこれぐらいだな。何か質問は?」
アキラは少し考えたが、特に聞きたいことは思いつかない。
『アルファは何か聞いておきたいこととかあるか?』
念のためにアルファにも聞いてみたが、アルファも特に聞きたいことはないようだ。何もない。アキラはそう答えようとして、あることを思い出した。
「ケインの重装強化服の調査はしたんだよな? それに自爆装置が搭載されていたかどうか分からないか?」
「自爆装置? ......ちょっと待ってくれ」
キバヤシは自身の情報端末を操作して、調査資料を閲覧する。そしてケインの重装強化服の詳細な情報を確認する。
だったと分かったからだ。アルファが苦笑する。
アキラが表情と一致しないことを言った。ネリアが
「少なくとも都市防衛隊の技術班が重装強化服を調査した結果では、該当する内部機構は存在は確認されていない。何でそんなことを聞くんだ?」
「......いや、防御とか回避とか無視して突っ込んできたから、自爆でもする気だったのかなって思って」
だろう。あんなデカ物が突っ込んできたら、何らかの対処せざるを得ないだろうしな」
「そうか。聞きたいことはそれぐらいだ」
「それなら本題に入ろう。渡した紙の最後のやつを見てくれ」
アキラが最後の紙を見る。アキラの顔がみるみる引きつっていく。それはアキラ
ヤラタサソリの巣の討伐依頼の拘束期間は7日だ。アキラの意識がなかった4日分の依頼キャンセル料も請求されていた。
請求額の合計は約6000万オーラム。その大半がアキラの治療費だ。アキラの顔を青ざめさせるのに十分な金額だった。
アキラは一瞬意識を飛ばしかけたが、何とか持ちこたえた。アキラの体調が万全でなければ、そのまま気を失っていたかもしれない。
「それが今お前が抱えている負債だ。請求額に不満が有るかもしれないが、お前が病院側にごねても無駄だって事は先に言っておこう。治療費は正当なものだし、実際に治療を受けるかどうかは、急患等で患者の意識がない場合、病院側が判断して良いことになっている。患者の意識がないために治療を受ける意思の確認が取れず、治療ができませんでしたってことを防止するためにな。まあ、建前だけどな」
アキラが慌てながら答える。
「だ、だからって、こんな金額払えるわけが......!」
アキラの動揺はキバヤシも予想済みだ。キバヤシがアキラを
「落ち着け。病院側だって支払の見込みが全くないやつに、そこまで過剰な治療をする訳じゃない。慈善事業ではないし、慈善事業だって金がないとできないんだ。取り立てられる客からはしっかり取り立てるさ。具体的には、お前の報酬から差し引かれる」
「そう。報酬だ。始めに言ったろ? 交渉に来たって」
「結論から言おう。お前がこちらの要求を飲めば、その請求額を相殺した上で、1億オーラムを持ってここから出て行ける。どうだ? いい話だろ?」
6000万オーラムの負債を抱え込んだと思ったら、それを相殺した上で1億オーラム手に入ると言われ、アキラの余裕は消し飛んだ。アキラは
アルファの呼びかけでアキラが我に返った。そんなアキラを見てキバヤシが苦笑する。
「正気に戻ったのなら、説明を続けて良いか?」
「あ、ああ。要求って何だ?」
「要求は単純だ。お前の地下街での戦歴を譲ってもらいたい。具体的には、お前は地下街で特に何事もなく普通に防衛地点の警備をしていて、ヤラタサソリに襲われて病院に運ばれたってことになる。お前には守秘義務が発生し、そのことを他者に教えてはいけない。誰かに依頼中の出来事を聞かれたら、無難に防衛地点の警備をしていたと答えるか、守秘義務で話せないとでも言ってくれ。ハンターオフィスのお前のハンター用個人ページの依頼履歴も、それに応じた内容になる。売り渡した戦歴が他のハンターの戦歴となってハンターオフィスの履歴に載る可能性もある。当たり前だが、実はそれは俺がやったんだ、なんて
そうにキバヤシを見ている。何とか笑いを抑えたキバヤシがアキラを見ながら話す。
「そう! それだけだ! たった1人で遺物強奪犯の主犯3人を撃退した戦歴を失うだけで良いんだ! 内2人は重装強化服を着用していたっていうのに、それをたった1人で撃退したって戦歴をな! 相変わらず無理
ハンターの実力を示す目安としてハンターランクが有るが、それとは別に戦歴も重要な要素である。強力なモンスターの撃退実績や高価な遺物の売却歴などは、ハンターランクに左右されない実力の指標として多くのハンターが競い誇るものの一つだ。
戦闘用義体者や重装強化服の着用者を撃退した記録は、そのハンターの評価を大いに高めることになる。単純に強力なモンスターを撃退した記録ならば、強力なモンスターが生息している地域で活動すれば比較的簡単に入手することができる。しかし高い戦闘技術を保有し、強力な武装を保持する人間との交戦記録を得るのは困難だ。
モンスターと人間では必要な戦闘技術も異なる。高度な対人戦闘の履歴は、その方向での実力を求めている依頼者達に高く評価されるだろう。しかもその記録の正確さを、ハンターオフィスとクガマヤマ都市が保証しているのだ。その価値は高い。
つまり、アキラは自身の想像以上に貴重なものを要求されているのだ。たとえアキラがその価値を理解していないとしても、それを大して価値のない物のように扱うアキラの態度がキバヤシの機嫌を急上昇させていた。
アキラは困惑しながらキバヤシを見ている。
「俺としてはそんな要求に1億オーラム、いや請求額の相殺分を含めれば1億6000万オーラムの価値があるとは思えないけどな。詐欺の類いじゃないなら、金額の妥当性とかを含めて説明してくれ」
アキラが少し疑いを強めて尋ねた。アキラには何らかの裏があるように思えてならない。
アキラはこの取引を断れない。断ればアキラは6000万オーラムの負債を背負うことになる。地下街の依頼の報酬が多少は支払われるだろうが、それで負債を相殺できる保証はないのだ。
だ。だから取引が成立した後でないと説明はできない。取引成立ってことで構わないか?」
「ではこの書類にサインしてくれ」
キバヤシは書類とペンをアキラに差し出す。それを受け取ったアキラは書類の記述内容を読もうとするが、非常に細かい文字で書類を埋め尽くすようにびっしり記述されていて、すぐに断念した。
『大丈夫。変なことは書かれていないわ。誰かに話したら都市を敵に回すことになりかねないから気を付けろ。乱暴に説明するとそんなことがいろいろ書かれているだけよ』
それを聞いたアキラは安心して書類に記名した。記入済みの書類を受け取ったキバヤシがニヤリと笑う。
「良し! これで取引は成立だ! 俺の仕事も終わり! ああ、説明はちょっと待ってくれ。取引成立を連絡するからな。結構
登りだ。何か追加要求があるなら言ってくれ。すんなり決まった礼に多少は口をきくぜ? こう見えて結構権限は持ってる方なんだ。お前の報酬の前払にバイクを付けたりな。都市の備品を勝手に報酬に付け加えるのは、実は結構高い権限がいるんだぞ?」
「おっと、そうだったな。1億6000万オーラム。確かにちょっと高すぎると考えても不思議はない額だ。いろいろ裏が有ると考えるのも当然だ。で、まあ、その裏の話なんだが、早い話、口止め料と宣伝費が入ってるんだよ」
クズスハラ街遺跡地下街での遺物強奪事件は一応の決着を見せた。都市側としては幸運にも軽微な被害と評価できる範囲で終わった。だが事件の全容は都市側の不備と過失を多分に含むものだった。地下街で発見された遺物を速やかに回収していなかったこと。遺物襲撃犯が地下街のハンターに長期間紛れ込んでいたこと。都市の
事件を隠蔽することは不可能だ。複数の徒党に属するハンターに死者が出ている上に、都市の防衛隊も派遣している。かといって単純に事件の内容を公開する訳にもいかない。偶然地下街にいたハンターが偶然遺物襲撃犯の主犯格の1人を撃退し、しかも地上で残りの主犯格の人間を撃破、撤退させたのだ。都市側の成果はその後始末程度で、誇れる功績ではない。
都市側は無能でしたが偶然が重なって幸運にも何とかなりました。都市の経営陣はそんな報告を外部に報告しなければならない事態になるのだ。クガマヤマ都市に多額の防衛費を支払って住んでいる多くの顧客や、定期的に情報交換を実施している他の都市の経営陣、そして上位組織である統企連に対してである。これはクガマヤマ都市にとって大きな痛手になりかねない事案だった。
報告を受けたクガマヤマ都市の経営陣は現状の改善策を模索した。様々な調査や調整が行われる中、事態収拾の責任者は遺物襲撃犯の主犯格達がアキラを都市のエージェントだと誤解していることを知る。何とか都市側が負う傷を浅くする手段を模索していた彼らはそこに目を付けた。
偶然地下街にいたハンターが偶然遺物襲撃犯を撃退したのではなく、事前に遺物襲撃の情報を
するための労力はごく僅かですむことも判明した。つまりアキラと交渉すれば済むのだ。アキラは個人で依頼を受けており、徒党などに属しているわけではない。アキラと交渉して納得さえさせれば、後は都市側内部の調整で済むのだ。
そしてその交渉の難度を下げるために、アキラには多額の治療費が必要な治療が施されたのだ。支払を都市側が保証しているため、病院側は治療費の未払を一切気にすることなくアキラを治療することができた。その結果、アキラは6000万近い負債を背負うことになったのだ。
He could see Alpha not too far from him. And just like the last time when he was in this world, Alpha did not seem to have noticed him at all.
Alpha was completely expressionless while talking to herself.
"Evaluating the 499th try. Calculating the possibility of the subject stepping into the targeted area... Less than 1 per cent. Calculating the possibility of the subject returning back alive from the unexplored territory... Less than 1 per cent. Unsuitable. Recommending increasing the subject's fighting capability."
"Constructing a plan on how to direct the subject. Making sure to take into account the reason why the previous subject broke the contract. Predicting the factors that steered the previous subject's judgement. If the previous subject's action was successful, there would be undefined numbers of human well-being affected and rescued, etc... As such, this unit needs to be careful so that the current subject would not even consider taking the same action that the previous subject took."
"Now, taking into account the character of the current subject. It's unlikely that the current subject would take the same decision as the previous subject. This is based on the fact that the current subject doesn't trust other humans, is apathetic toward others, and tends to be egocentric. It's highly unlikely that the current subject has the same moral values, tolerance, morality and principles as the previous subject."
"In order not to repeat the same mistake as the 498th try, it's recommended to keep watch of the current subject's possible change of attitude."
Akira's consciousness waned. The world was once again enveloped in darkness, his dream had ended.
Akira woke up inside a sickroom. He felt like he just saw an important dream, but he could not recall what it was. It only left him with the feeling that he saw a similar dream once before.
The sickroom where he woke up was a room for one, filled with devices to treat a human with an organic body. As Akira tried to sit on the bed he was lying, he saw Alpha.
"Good morning, Akira. Did you sleep well?"
"Morning Alpha. Yeah, I feel like it has been a long time since I slept so well."
He felt completely refreshed and his body felt better than usual. His injuries were fully healed as he no longer felt any pain. His body was in tip-top shape now.
Akira scanned the whole room. There were no railings on the window and it seemed like the camera installed in the room was not to prevent the patient from running away, but to check the patient's condition. It was not a bad place at all, but it did not tell anything about his current situation.
"So then, where am I?"
"Kugamayama city's hospital. They brought you here to get you treated."
"Is that so?"
There was a big public hospital inside the city that both Kugamayama city and the Hunter Office relied on. It was designed to be able to treat organic human and cyborg, as such, it was naturally expanded into a huge facility. Most of its patients were people who regularly went into battle such as Hunters and soldiers who guarded dangerous places.
This hospital mainly focused on treating injuries than curing diseases. It was so specialised in its treatment that it could heal someone who had lost 4 of their limbs by using an expensive procedure to regenerate them back, or fix people with a modified body or even transplant some of their body parts, or install cyborg body parts with better and more powerful parts, or even revert a cyborg body back into an organic body by regrowing body parts.
Akira had fainted when the defense squad was transporting him. He was suspected to be one of the relic thieves, as such, it would not be strange if he had woke up inside a cell.
"What do they think of me now?"
"I believe that someone would come here to explain that. But don't worry, they no longer suspect you to be one of the relic thieves. So don't worry about that part."
For some reason, Kibayashi looked like he was in a really good mood.
"We meet again. It's good to see that you're as reckless as always."
Akira appeared to be puzzled as he looked at Kibayashi. Kibayashi realized that Akira did not remember him.
"It's me, Kibayashi. The guy who gave you that bike, remember?"
"Akira, he's the person who gave you the bike when you decided to accept the SOS request when a swarm of monsters from Kuzusuhara ruin headed to Kugamayama city. He's the Hunter Office staff from that time."
Akira vaguely remembered Kibayashi's face, and after listening to Alpha's explanation, he recalled immediately.
"Ah, I remember it now. If I'm not mistaken, you're the Hunter Office staff who was driving the truck, right? And from that SOS request too..."
Kibayashi nodded happily.
Kibayashi extended his hand, expecting a handshake. When Akira grabbed his hand, Kibayashi excitedly shook it up and down. It seemed that Kibayashi was really in a good mood.
"A deal?"
"Yep. But before we do that, I want to explain to you about your current situation. I'm sure you want to know why you are here or if the city still suspects you as one of the relic thieves, right?"
"Yeah, please do."
Kibayashi nodded firmly in response to Akira's words.
He then handed a pile of papers to Akira. Those were doc.u.ments explaining his current situation.
"All the details are written in it. I'll read it for you, you are free to stop and ask me if you find anything confusing."
Kibayashi then started giving explanations to Akira, he also had a copy of the same doc.u.ments in his hand.
After the defense squad captured Nelia and Akira, they handed them over to the medical squad in the underground exploration HQ to receive emergency treatment. They were then transported to Kugamayama city as suspects.
It did not take long for them to deduce that Nelia was one of the relic thieves. After all, she quickly confessed and told them everything about the other relic thieves.
Akira found such a change of attitude really strange from the girl who he had a deathmatch with.
"Nelia, was it again? Was she really being that cooperative?"
"Yeah. I heard that she was very cooperative. Even though she only did that to reduce her sentence, it's strange that she was so cooperative. Even the person responsible for questioning her found it strange and asked her."
"She said that she's someone who doesn't let herself get stuck in the past."
Akira's expression showed a mix of admiration and dismay.
"That girl really holds to her value... Or more like, she doesn't take much time to move on... So there are people like her out there, huh."
"But thanks to that, the investigation went really well and the suspicion on you was quickly cleared up. Normally, we would have done a stricter investigation, you know. Maybe because the person who was assigned for her investigation was the best one there is, they got it done like this."
"But even if that's true, I don't feel thankful to that Nelia at all. She was so close to killing me, you know... So, what happened to her after that? From your story, it sounded like she got a big pardon in her sentence. Did she escape the death sentence? It's not like you just set her free, right?"
"Of course not. But it at least saved her from severe punishment. She was sent for forced labour under the City Management. She was given a cyborg body with the City Management's authority set above her own authority plus an explosive planted in her head. So forget her right of life and death, she doesn't even have the right over her own body. She'll be sent to explore dangerous ruins or fight dangerous monsters. I bet the city would use her as an expendable pawn until she serves her punishment period or pays back her debt to the city. Depending on how hard she works, she might be set free in the future, that's unless if she doesn't die first of course."
"...I see."
After listening to what would happen to Nelia, Akira was rather relieved. But he still somehow felt uneasy.
Although she deserved that, Akira somehow felt unsatisfied. Even though someone as strong as Nelia was denied authority over her own body and sent to do forced labour, he still felt that she was let off easily.
Kibayashi noticed that Akira still looked a bit unsatisfied.
"...It's nothing."
"Ohh, I see, you wanted to kill her yourself, huh? Since her cyborg body is owned by the City Management now, don't even think of killing her, okay? In the worst-case scenario, all of her debt will be shifted to you if you do that, you know? If you want to kill her yourself, do that after she finishes her sentence."
"It's okay. I have no plans for picking a fight with the city."
After that, it did not take long to capture the rest of the relic thieves. The transport truck was also confiscated by the city and the city recovered all the stolen relics. Although few of them escaped with some of the stolen relics, thanks to Nelia's confession, the city had precise information about who they were. It was only a matter of time before the City Management captured them.
But there was still no information about Kain. The city did investigate the information about him that they received from Nelia, but they only ended up finding out that it was fabricated information. They even inspected and analyzed the powered suit left behind in the battle site, but there was no personal information that could be extracted from that powered suit. They only knew that this Kain was someone brought in by the mastermind of that operation, Yajima.
When Akira fainted, the city also investigated him and it was quickly proven that Akira had nothing to do with the relic thieves. So then he was sent to get treated until he woke up just a while back.
"...And that will conclude my explanation about the relic thieves. Do you have any questions?"
Akira thought for a bit, he did not have any questions at the moment.
"Alpha, do you have any questions that you want to ask?"
Just to be safe, Akira also asked Alpha, but it seemed that she too did not have any questions either. Akira was about to say that he did not have any questions, but something suddenly came up in his mind.
"You guys also inspected Kain's powered suit, right? Did you guys find a self-destruction device inside it?"
"Self-destruction device...? Wait for a sec."
Kibayashi checked his information terminal and scanned through the doc.u.ments about the investigation's result. He then checked the details about Kain's powered suit.
After Kibayashi said that, Akira frowned. He realized that Nelia was lying back then. Alpha smiled bitterly and said.
Akira's words and expression contradicted each other. Nelia lied to him and he got completely tricked. She was a good trickster, that was all there was to it. Akira thought so while making a disgruntled expression.
"Well, at least, according to the result of the investigation done by the city's Defense Squad, we didn't find anything that looked like a self-destruction device inside that powered suit. Why did you ask that question by the way?"
"...Well, since it was charging right at me ignoring any damage to its body, I thought that it was set to self-destruct, you see."
"I'm sure it was sent only as a diversion to buy more time. With such a big thing charging at you, you'll have no other choice but to deal with it, right?"
"I see. I guess that's all the questions I have."
"Well then, I'll get to the real reason why I'm here. Look at the last page of that doc.u.ment."
Akira turned the doc.u.ment in his hand to the last page. As soon as he glanced at the page, he was wide-eyed, his jaw dropped. It was a bill addressed to him.
The Yarata Scorpion's nest extermination request lasted for 7 days. So the bill also included the remaining 4 days' cancellation fine.
Putting it all together, it totalled 60,000,000 Aurum. Half of it was from Akira's treatment. It was a number that was more than enough to make his face pale.
Akira was about to faint but somehow stayed awake. If it was not for his tip-top shape, he would have immediately fainted right there.
"That's the bill amount you have to pay right now. You might have some complaints about that amount, but let me tell you this beforehand, it's pointless to complain about it to the hospital. The cost of the treatment does make sense. During an emergency where the patient has lost consciousness, the type of treatment and its cost are both decided by the hospital. Well, it's basically just a preventive measure against a case where the hospital can't give the patient any treatment just because they can't confirm if the patient wants to take that treatment or not since the patient has already passed out."
Akira replied in a panic.
"B-but just because of that, it's not like I can pay this much money, you know...?!!"
Kibayashi did expect that Akira would be shocked like this. He then tried to calm Akira down.
"Calm down. The hospital won't charge you that amount if they don't think that you can pay it. It's not like they're running a charity after all, and even a charity would not run without money. So they'll make you pay a lot of money whenever they have the chance. Which in this case, to be more precise, it would be subtracted from your reward."
"Yep, your reward. Like I said before, I'm here to make a deal with you."
"To cut the chase, if you accept our offer, not only can you pay for that bill, you can even go back home with an extra 100,000,000 Aurum. So what do you think? Doesn't that sound enticing?"
Akira was thunderstruck, when he thought that he would be carrying a 60,000,000 Aurum debt, he was then told that he might even go back home with 100,000,000 Aurum surplus money. He was so dumbfounded that he was lost for words.
Akira immediately snapped back to his senses when Alpha called for him. Looking at that, Kibayashi smiled bitterly.
"Now that you've returned back to this world, can I continue?"
"Ah, yeah, sure. So what's your demand?"
"Our demand is simple. We want you to sell your battle record in the black market. To be more precise, we want you to change it to this: you were just monitoring the underground defensive point when a swarm of Yarata scorpions attacked you, you then got injured and were sent to the hospital. You'll be bound by confidentiality, so you can't tell anyone about this. If someone asks you what happened, just tell them that you got assigned to watch the defensive point or you can't say anything due to the confidentiality of the request. It'll also get reflected in your record in the Hunter Office's webpage. There might be a chance that the record which you sold to be listed under another Hunter's battle record, in which case, you can't claim that as your battle record, okay?"
When Akira asked that, Kibayashi tried hard to hold back his laughter. Akira looked puzzled since he did not think that he said anything funny. Kibayashi somehow held back his laughter, he then answered back while locking his gaze at Akira.
"Yep!! That's all!! You'll just have to sell your battle record which says you overpowered 3 relic thieves alone!! The record says that you even defeated them when 2 of them were equipped with powered suits!! I'm really glad that you are always so reckless!! For someone like you, losing this record is nothing big at all, right? A normal Hunter would get super angry if they lose this kind of record, you know?"
Although Hunter Rank can be used to judge the ability of a Hunter, the same thing could also be done using battle records. Records like defeating a strong monster or bringing back an expensive relic and so on. With records like these, Hunters could boast regardless of their Hunter Rank.
Records of fighting against battle oriented cyborgs or a powered suit would boost Hunter's value. If it was only winning a battle against a strong monster, anyone would be able to get that record by working in dangerous areas where powerful biological monsters roamed. In contrast to that, winning a fight against another human with powerful fighting skills and equipment was an extremely rare record.
Fighting a monster and fighting a human demanded completely different combat skills. A battle record against someone powerful would really entice requesters who are looking for people with that skill set. Not to mention, both the city and the Hunter Office guaranteed the accuracy of such battle record, thus it was a highly valued commodity.
So in short, the City Management demanded such an important thing from Akira. Even though Akira did not know the real worth of that battle record, the fact that he was thinking very lightly of his own battle record made Kibayashi really delighted.
Akira looked puzzled as he looked back at Kibayashi.
"To be honest, I don't see how that thing is worth 100,000,000 Aurum, no, adding the 60,000,000 Aurum, that would be 160,000,000 Aurum. I don't see how my record is worth that much. If you're serious about this, can you tell me how you even came up with such a value?"
Akira sounded doubtful. He thought that there must be some kind of string attached to this deal.
Akira could not refuse the deal. If he did, he would have to find another way to pay his 60,000,000 Aurum debt. Although he might be able to pay most of his debt from the reward of the underground exploration request, there was no guarantee that it would be able to fully pay back the debt.
"I don't mind telling you, but it is confidential information. That's why I can't explain it to you unless you accept my offer first. So, is it okay if we do that after you accept my offer?"
"Okay then, put your sign over here."
Kibayashi handed over a pen and a paper to Akira. Akira tried to read what was written in the paper, but it was filled with lots of hard-to-read small-sized words that Akira quickly decided to give up.
"It's alright. There's nothing dangerous written in this paper. If I were to summarize its content, it's saying that you might turn the whole city into your enemy if you were to tell other people about the confidential information."
After hearing Alpha, Akira felt relieved as he signed his name on the paper and handed it back to Kibayashi. Kibayashi received the paper while smiling.
"Nice!! With this, our deal is sealed!! And my job is done!! Ah, right, about that explanation, can you wait for a bit? I need to tell the City Management that we now have a deal. We're in a hurry, you see."
"With this, my evaluation will also soar. You can go ahead and ask me anything, in that way I can at least give you something in return, right? Although I look like this, I am actually someone important. I even have enough authority to give you a bike as front payment. No one can just give out a city's property as a reward unless they have high authority, don't you agree?"
"Ah, that 160,000,000 Aurum, right? It's not weird that you think it's too good to be true. It's normal to think that there must be some kind of string attached behind that offer. Well, to put it simply, it is a bribe to keep your mouth sealed."
The incident about the relic thieves had come to a closure. Fortunately enough, it did not incur much loss to the city. But this whole incident was caused by the mistakes and the lack of vigilance of the City Management. It was because they did not quickly excavate the relics from the underground city, they let the relic thieves roam around the underground for too long, and they failed to anticipate the possibility of relic theft. Most of the reasons why that incident happened stemmed from City Management's negligence.
It was now impossible to hide that incident, not only were some Hunters killed, the city even sent out its defense squad. With that being said, it did not mean that they could just let it spread to the public. But then a Hunter encountered one of those relic thieves by pure coincidence and killed him, that Hunter then went to the surface, got ambushed by another pair of relic thieves, and drove them back. The city did not want that incident to end like that since it would bring the City Management to shame.
Although it happened because of the incompetence of the City Management, luckily enough, it somehow got resolved. Now the City Management would have to give the report explaining the incident to the others including the people living in the city who were paying a lot of money for the defense squad's expense, the people from the other City Management that they were regularly in contact with, and more importantly, the upper echelons of the Corporate Government. Thus this incident might hurt Kugamayama City Management's authority.
Kugamayama City Management tried to come up with various plans to resolve the problem. According to their investigation and interrogation regarding the incident, they quickly found out that the main players in that relics thieving incident mistook Akira as an agent from the city. And so the people who were looking for a solution turned their focus onto that revelation.
So rather than some nameless Hunter taking out those relic thieves by pure coincidence, if the story was splintered into something better, something like the city somehow got hold of the information about those relic thieves, so the City Management decided to send an agent in disguise as a Hunter, then as expected, that agent encountered the relic thieves and took them out. If that was what happened, then the City Management would get a good evaluation instead.
Fortunately enough, City Management immediately noticed that it would not take much effort to fabricate such a story. In short, they only needed to convince Akira who took that request himself. Another good thing was that he was not affiliated with any gangs. So the City Management only needed to make a deal with Akira and then they could take care of the rest.
As an assurance for the deal to go smoothly, Akira was given an expensive treatment. The hospital did not hesitate when giving Akira such an expensive treatment since the City Management gave its guarantee. As a result, Akira was handed that 60,000,000 Aurum bill.
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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