237 複数の誤解
部屋に戻ったアキラは明日に備えて体調を万全にする
(......あと1日。昨日の襲撃を考慮して、輸送車両の警備を大幅に強化したって話だし、行きとは逆に西側に向かうんだからモンスターも弱くなっていく。運が良ければアキラの出番無しで終わるわ......。あと1日......頑張りましょう......)
アキラ達が眠りに就く中、出発準備を終えた輸送車両はクガマヤマ都市に向けて発車した。
ヒカルは前回よりは屋根の上の環境に大分慣れて結構平気になっていた。だが異性と抱き合う方への慣れはそこまでではなく、気恥ずかしさを覚えていた。もうすぐ終わる、と思いながら太陽が地平から離れていく光景を眺めている。
その途中、それを邪魔する者が現れる。アキラ達と同じように屋根に上がっていた者が近付いてきたのだ。それは少年と付き添いの男で、昨日貨物部でヒカル達を見ていたシロウ達だった。
シロウはカジュアルな服を着ており、ハーマーズは背広を着ている。どちらもこの環境に適したものとは思えない服装だ。だが屋根の上の強風に平気で耐えており、普通の服を装った強化服の着用者か、同等の身体能力の持ち主だと分かる。
ヒカルがシロウに気が付くと、シロウは気安い様子で軽く手を挙げて、そのまま
シロウはそう言ってアキラに視線を向けた。アキラが少し考えてから答える。
「すまないが、仕事中の私語は厳禁だと指示されている」
い加減にしろよ? 帰るぞ! 第一、お前に本当にそれが分かっているのなら、それを堪能している恋人の間に割り込んで邪魔するな! 空気読めねえのが美徳だとでも思ってるのか?」
シロウが半分冷やかしの含んだ視線をヒカルに向ける。ヒカルも、そう勘違いしてくれれば帰ってくれるのならと、否定しない。加えてそう指摘されたことで少し意識してしまい、顔を少し赤くしていた。
「へいへい。仕事を名目にデートをしているところに割り込んですみませんでした。帰りますよ。帰れば良いんだろう。帰れば。じゃあな」
シロウは笑ってヒカル達に軽く手を振って帰っていき、ハーマーズも
屋根まで上がってくる気合いの入った観光客?」
「観光客か。情報量が違うとか言ってたし、観光の
朝食を取りながら顔を無意識に険しくして、思わず食事の手を止める。そして我に返って首を横に振る。
(......考えすぎだ。全て偶然の可能性もある。ダミーだとしても、そこまでの意図はないはず。あいつらは、俺への襲撃を警戒した
食事を再開し、食べ終える。高級品だが、特に感動は無い。もう慣れてしまっている。部屋の内装も豪勢で、優遇されていると知っている。自由もそれなりにある。十分恵まれた待遇だと理解もしている。
「......待っててくれ。俺が何とかしてみせる。頼むよ」
に、坂下重工の施設の外にいるというこの絶好の機会を逃すまいと、覚悟を決めていた。
アキラ達を乗せた都市間輸送車両であるギガンテス3は、行きとは移動ルートを大幅に変更して荒野を進んでいた。
移動要塞、又は陸上戦艦と呼んでも差し支え無い巨大な車体では、ちょっとした
てしても、空でも飛ばない限り通行可能な場所は限定される。そこに都市間移動用としての条件を加えれば、移動ルートは更に狭まる。更に安全面などを考慮し、最終的に決定した4ルートがギガンテス3の予備ルートも含めた当初のルートとなっていた。
だが最も安全だったAルート、及びその近場を通るBルートは、
それが何らかの事態で1択になると、安全上の懸念から輸送そのものが中止になる。少なくともその公算が大きくなる。それは都市間輸送に関わる者ならば、当たり前の知識だった。
警備の受け持ち時間が近付いてきたアキラは、ヒカルと一緒にバイクを
「ヒカル。そろそろじゃないか?」
「あ、うん」
ヒカルが若干戸惑いながら輸送車両の警備側に連絡して格納庫の扉を開けてもらう。本来は飛行可能な人型兵器などが移動中の車両から出撃する
「アキラ。その、大丈夫なのよね?」
開いた扉からは高速で流れ続ける荒野の景色が見える。落ちれば死ぬ光景だ。アキラのバイクが、タイヤそのものが存在しない完全な飛行バイクなら、ヒカルも不安は覚えない。だがアキラが乗っているバイクには、両輪がしっかりと付いている。搭載されている機能を知らない者が見れば、自殺にしか思えない。
アキラも大丈夫だと思っている。だが不安そうな顔で念押しされると、確認を取りたくなってくる。
『アルファ。大丈夫だよな?』
アルファはいつものように笑って答えた。それでアキラも安心する。
「大丈夫だ。行ってくる」
「頑張ってね。また見てるから」
ヒカルに見送られながら、アキラがバイクを発進させる。格納庫内を加速しながら進み、開いた扉からそのまま外へ飛び出した。そして地上で鋭角で曲がるように、空中でバイクを大きく傾ける。同時に両輪の
そのアキラを遠距離から見ている者達がいた。先頭車両に配置されているタツカワ達だ。タツカワは自前の人型兵器に乗り込み、その高性能なカメラで先ほどのアキラの戦闘とも呼べない交戦の様子を見ていた。
その人型兵器の肩に座っているメルシアが軽く笑う。
「あんまり強そうには見えない?」
「まあ、俺とお前の仲だ。俺の方から圧力を掛けてやっても良いが、相応の見返りはもらうぞ? 結構デカい貸しだと思ってくれ」
「デカいって、どれぐらいだ?」
「こっちはこっちで事情があるんだよ。言っておくが、俺とお前の仲だから、こっちも妥協して言ってるんだ。そこらのやつなら鼻で笑って終わりにしてる。まあ、割に合わない話だってのには全面的に同意する。余程の事情でも無い限り、これを受けるのはお勧めしない。それでも構わないって言うのなら、やっても良いぞ。そっちにそれだけの事情があるなんて、俺には想像も付かないけどな」
「ああ、それ、私も気になったからちょっと調べてみたんだけど、多分あの子、クガマヤマ都市のエージェントよ」
「その調査資料を送るから、タツカワも自分で判断して」
タツカワが送られてきた資料を確認する。するとその顔に
それ以前の経歴の信頼性など全く無いスラム街の出身で、身分証明書等の無いハンターランク1から開始。そして比較的短期間でランク10に到達すると、精力的にハンター稼業を続ける。特にクズスハラ街遺跡関連の出来事に強く関わり、都市からの依頼を受けてハンターランクを伸ばす。特にハンターランク調整依頼で急激にランクを引き上げており、その際の直接の交渉相手はキバヤシだった。
加えてスラム街の徒党に深く関与し、都市に対して有害となった大徒党の壊滅にも関わっている。自身が後ろ盾となっている徒党は都市の幹部とも
「......真っ黒じゃねえか。怪しすぎて逆に怪しくないレベルだぞ。そいつのオペレーターのヒカルってやつも都市の職員。これ、確定だろう」
「付け加えると、そのハンターを今回の輸送車両の護衛に
「つまり、2人セットで何らかの作戦中か? ああ、そう考えると、キバヤシの態度にも納得だな」
タツカワが軽い
「好きにしてくれ。都市のエージェントだと分かった上でチームに取り込むとか、そういう利害判断はお前の領域だろう? 俺は興味ない」
「分かったわ。こっちで考えとく」
タツカワが操縦席のモニターからアキラを映していたカメラ映像を消して、暇潰し用の映像に切り替える。そこには少々性的な内容のものも含まれていた。メルシアがそれに気付いて文句を言う。
「警備の仕事中なんだけど?」
「俺の勘は当分暇だと言っている」
「そう。じゃあ良いか」
人型兵器のコックピット部分が開き、メルシアが中に入ると再び閉まっていく。周囲にはタツカワの部下も数名いたが、いつものことだと全く気にしなかった。
「あと、もっと安いバイクでビルの側面とかを走ったことがあるから、あれだけ高級品なら大丈夫だろうとも思った」
「そ、そう。そのバイクはどうしたの? 高級品に乗り換えようと思ったから新しいのを買ったの?」
「そ、そう。それなら、新しいのが要るわね」
なぜそれで生きているのか。そう疑問に思いながらも、ヒカルはもう細かく聞くのは
分厚い雲の上、快晴であれば輸送車両に確実に探知される高度の空を、数十機の白い大型人型兵器が飛行していた。機体には程度の差はあれど交戦の痕がある。全ての装備を四肢ごと失い、胴体部の推進装置での飛行しか出来ない機体もいる。
その一機を大直径の光線が貫いた。大型機にその体積を1割ほど消滅させる大穴が
別の大型機に円盤状の攻撃端末機が直撃する。その直径が大型機の半分ほどもある巨大な円盤だ。高速回転する円盤外周部の刃で相手の装甲を切り裂き続け、接触部から金属を切り裂く派手な火花を飛び散らせる。その勢いのまま目標に深く入り込んでいき、そのまま大型機を両断した。両断された機体が左右に分かれて雲海に落下する。
他の大型機が味方機に取り付いた無数の黒い円盤を味方機ごと攻撃して撃破していく。それらの円盤の撃破と引き換えに、更に数機の大型機が撃墜されて落下していった。
味方の損害。稼いだ距離と時間。それらを材料に判断が下る。白い大型機達が一斉に雲海へ高速で降下していく。そして、その大型機達を襲っていた存在、光線と黒の攻撃端末機の射出元も、白い機体達を追ってその後に続いた。
Ch 237
After returning back to his room, Akira decided to turn in early. He wanted to be at his peak performance tomorrow.
[...Just one more day. Because of what happened yesterday, I heard that they got more reinforcements. Since we're heading to the west this time, the monsters should be not as dangerous as yesterday. And if I'm lucky, Akira won't even get dispatched.... Just one more day... Let's give it my best...]
As Akira and Hikaru slept, the convoy finished its preparation and left for Kugamayama city.
Hikaru had more or less gotten used to the situation on the rooftop so she was not as scared as before. But that was not the case to the fact that she was clinging close to a boy around her age. She still feels embarrassed because of that. She reminded herself that it would be over soon while watching the sun rising from the horizon.
In the midst of that, trouble approached. Just like Akira, they came up to the rooftop. It was a young boy accompanied by a man, they were the two who were watching Hikaru and Akira back in the hangar, Shirou and Hammerz.
Shirou was donning casual clothes, while Hammers was in a sleek business suit. Judging from their outfits, they must be there for sightseeing. But even so, they were walking casually amid this turbulent wind. Either those casual clothes were actually augmented suits, or they were people with enhanced bodies.
Hikaru noticed Shirou, who lightly smiled and waved at her. He then approached her.
Shirou said so and glanced at Akira. Akira paused for a bit before replying.
"I'm sorry, but I was told not to talk with anyone in the middle of my job."
"Seriously, give it a rest already! We're returning right now! In the first place,  you should not have interrupted a couple who are enjoying the sunrise! Or do you take that not being able to read the mood as a virtue?"
Shirou sent a half-cold gaze toward Hikaru. She thought that if that misunderstanding would send him away, decided not to deny it. It even made her self-conscious and blush. Meanwhile, Akira was completely apathetic.
"I see, I see. I'm sorry for bothering your date in the middle of your job. I'll leave right now. I just have to leave, right? Okay, okay."
Shirou smiled at Hikaru and Akira, lightly waved, and then left. Hammerz sighed and followed behind him.
"No idea, probably just tourists who got excited to the point that they would even go up to the rooftop to see the sunrise?"
"Tourist, huh? He mentioned something about the flow of information, so I don't think they're mere tourists that would go out to the wasteland just for sightseeing."
He unconsciously made a stern expression while in the middle of his breakfast. He was so deep in his thought to the point that he stopped scooping food into his mouth. But he eventually shook his head.
[...No. I must be overthinking this. All of this might just be a simple coincidence. Even if she's just a dummy, I'm sure that she didn't go to those places intentionally to meet me. They are only distractions so that I'll be safe if someone tries to ambush us... It's a good thing to think of the worst-case scenario and prepare myself. But it is a bad idea to overdo it. It'll be all for nought if that causes me to miss an important opportunity instead.]
Shirou started eating again. Although it was a luxurious meal, he did not show any reaction at all. He had gotten too used to it already. He understood that he was treated special and was given such a luxurious room. Not to mention that he had some level of freedom as well. He fully knew that he was living a good life.
"...Just wait, I'll definitely do something about this. So just please wait for me."
Shirou mumbled so with a serious expression. And in order to bring his plan to fruition, he knew that he could not miss such a perfect opportunity where he was allowed to be outside Sakashita Heavy Industry's facility.
Akira and Hikaru were also boarding Gigantes 3 on their way back to Kugamayam city. Although, the route it took differed greatly from before.
Due to its massive size, Gigantes 3 was also called a moving fortress or a land battleship. It could easily bulldoze its way through mountains of rubble. But even so, other than flying through the sky, there was only a limited area that it could traverse through. Adding the conditions that it was used as inter-city transport, there was a
limited number of routes that it could take. And when considering safety as well, 4 routes were mapped out for Gigantes 3.
The supposed safest routes, route A and B, were infested with colony-size giant bugs, it was not possible to go through those routes anymore. With that, it left the convoy with only 2 routes available, and the general public knew about this as well.
If something happened that caused that number of routes to fall down to 1, the transportation activity would come to a full halt considering the safety of the transport convoys. Or at least, that possibility would go up greatly. This was common sense among the people who were involved in inter-city transportation.
As his shift was coming close, Akira went to the storage facility together with Hikaru. After finishing their preparation, Akira hopped on his bike and awaited the time.
"Hikaru, it's about time."
"Ah, yes, right..."
Hikaru looked troubled as she contacted the storage guard to open the door. Normally, that door was to be used for the powered suits to shoot down monsters from inside the transport vehicle.
"Akira, you'll be fine, right?"
Judging from what they could see from the open door, the transport vehicle was travelling at high speed. Only death awaited anyone who fell off it. If Akira's bike was a hoverbike with completely no tires, Hikaru would not have been worried about him. But the bike that Akira was using had 2 tires fixed under it. From the perspective of those who did not know its full capabilities, what Akira was planning to do there was nothing short of a suicide jump.
Of course, Akira thought that it was fine, but even so, when someone was worriedly asking him, he could not help but to get worried as well.
"Alpha, it's going to be fine, right?"
Alpha was smiling as usual, that was enough to put Akira at ease.
"It'll be fine, I'm going out now."
"Good luck, I'll be watching closely."
As Hikaru said so, Akira turned on the bike and rode it through the storage facility, he then just jumped out through the door with his current momentum. He leaned the bike over in mid-air as if he was making a sharp turn. At the same time, he activated the bike's forcefield armour to create an invisible floating platform. The moment the bike's wheels touched the platform, the energy conversion turned the force from the wheels into a flash of light. This caused the bike to leave a trail made of light as it raced over the platform.
There were people who saw Akira from afar. It was Tatsukawa's team that was posted further ahead. Tatsukawa boarded his own powered suit and watched Akira in action in that short battle which could not even be called a battle.
Melshia, who was sitting on the powered suit's shoulder, casually replied.
"He doesn't seem that strong to you?"
"Well, we're not strangers. So, I don't mind putting in some extra pressure if you want, but it won't be for free, you know? And it won't be cheap as well."
"Oh, how expensive exactly?"
"I have my reasons, you see. Let me at least tell you this. I'm actually selling you this favour for cheap, you know? I'm considering us as acquaintances after all. If it's just some random person, I would have only laughed at you and left it as it is. Well, if you think that it isn't worth it, I wholeheartedly agree with you. As long as you don't have a strong reason to do it, I don't recommend you take up this offer. But if you still insist on it, I don't mind doing it. Though to be honest, I can't imagine what kind of reason you might have to want to meet him that badly."
"Ahhh, actually, that also piqued my interest, so I did some digging on my own. That boy, he might be an agent from Kugamayama."
"I'll send you the result from my investigation, you can decide for yourself after that."
Tatsukawa checked the document that he received. He then sighed exasperatedly, the document listed Akira's track record.
The track record was nothing sort of believable. He had started as a Rank 1 Hunter with no ID from the slum city, then climbed up to Rank 10 in a short time and went hard on his Hunter job since then. He was involved in most of the incidents in Kuzusuhara ruin and once accepted a request from City Management to boost his Hunter Rank. That request did give his rank a quick boost and the person who was handling his request was Kibayashi himself.
Moreover, he was also deeply involved in the gang dynamic inside slum city. He was involved in eradicating a certain large gang that was causing trouble for the city. While the gang that he was sponsoring had connections with one of the city officials. The relic shop that the gang was running has been pretty popular lately with some of the relics harvested from the Kuzusuhara ruin official's managed area found there.
"...Welp, this isn't even funny, it's so suspicious to the point that it's not even strange. Not to mention that his operator, Hikaru, she's also a staff from Kugamayama city, right? I guess there's no doubt anymore, right?"
"If I may add one thing, it seems that Hikaru was also the one who got him this escort job."
"So, basically, those two are in some kind of special mission, huh? Well, if that's the case, there's no wonder why Kibayashi acted like that yesterday."
Tatsukawa lightly sighed. Seeing that, Melshia more or less understood what Tatsukawa was thinking.
"I'll leave that to you. It's your speciality. You're best at calculating the risk and reward in taking someone in. We already know that he is an agent from the city, right? So, I have no interest in asking him to join at all."
"Alright, I'll think about it then."
Tatsukawa switched the display inside his powered suit that was showing the image from a camera that was watching Akira to another image to help him waste time. Basically, it contained some sexual content. Melshia who noticed that quickly complained.
"We're in the middle of a job, you know?"
"My instinct is saying that we won't be busy."
"Is that so? Well, I guess it's fine then."
The cockpit of the powered suit opened up and after Melshia entered the cockpit, it then closed up. Although Tatsukawa's men were around, they knew that it was the usual thing and completely ignored it.
"And also, I once scaled a building with a cheaper bike before, so I thought that it should be fine if I'm using something this expensive."
"I-I see. By the way, what happened to that other bike? Did you buy a more expensive one because you thought it was time to get a better bike?"
"I-I see... So, basically, you needed a new bike, huh?"
Hikaru did question how did he survive that, but she decided not to ask anything unnecessary.
Above the thick clouds, at a height that the transport vehicle would easily detect if it was a clear day, a few white powered suits were flying. All of them were damaged although the extent of the damage was not the same. One of them had already lost all its limbs and was only able to move around thanks to the flying device being still intact.
Suddenly a white light lance pierced one of them, it formed a pillar that was thick enough to devour 10 per cent of its huge frame. It just went straight through the powered suit as if the defensive mechanisms of the suit were non-existent. That single shot easily took out the powered suit that could withstand a battle against a colony-sized giant bug swarm. The white powered suit crumbled into pieces and was
Meanwhile, another powered suit took a hit from a dish-shaped weapon. The diameter of that weapon was about half the size of the powered suit. It rotated so rapidly that it easily sliced through the powered suit. Sparks flew around accompanying the screeching sound of metal cutting through another. It eventually made a clean cut through the powered suit and flew away. The cut powered suit was separated into two as it fell down.
Another powered suit was stuck with multiple black disks. The other power suits saw that and quickly focused their fire to destroy the black disks while also sacrificing those powered suits caught by those black disks. Thus, another powered suit fell from the sky.
With the time and the distance that was bought by sacrificing their teammate, the rest of the white powered suits quickly dove down into the cloud. Of course, their opponents did not let them get away, the source of the light lance and the user of the huge disk weapon as well as the user of the multiple black disks quickly pursued them into the cloud.
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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