117 救出後の後始末
エレナが状況の悪化から救出作業の切り上げを決断して、険しい表情でシカラベに連絡する。
「シカラベ! 今すぐ切り上げて撤退して! 脱出するわ!」
エレナからの通信を聞いたシカラベが事情を問わずに即答した。状況を聞く時間すら惜しいことを理解したからだ。
シカラベが作業中のハンター達に向けて叫ぶ。
「今すぐ脱出する! 乗っていないやつは置いていく! 急げ!」
シカラベが床に横たわっている男を
急に作業の打ち切りを宣言されたハンターが慌てて話す。
「ちょっと待ってくれ! まだ遺物の積み込みが......」
シカラベは文句を言うハンターを無視して車へ走っていく。そして
遺物を運んでいたハンター達は未練たっぷりの目で遺物を見た後で、邪魔になる遺物を置いて急いで車に走っていく。シカラベは彼らを本気で置いていく。それが分かったからだ。
残りのハンターが車に乗り込む前に後部の扉が閉まり始め、車が動き始める。ハンター達は必死の形相で車に駆け込んだ。
シカラベが装甲兵員輸送車を急発進させる。銃弾が降り注いでいる中を敷地の外に続く門へ向けて全速力で走らせる。門は積み上がった機械系モンスター達の残骸で半分ほど塞がれていたが、車両で勢いよく体当たりして強引に残骸を突き破った。
エレナ達もアキラ達もすぐにシカラベの後に続く。ビルの側面を降りてきた機械系モンスター達が地面に広がっていき、その一部がアキラ達を追いかけようとする。しかしアキラ達の方が十分速い。群れの先頭にいる少々早い機体を数体破壊すると、残りの機体は破壊された個体が障害物となって更に速度を落としたので、すぐに引き離せた。
ビルからある程度離れたところで、アルファがアキラに
アキラが安心して一息入れた。当面の危機は去ったようだ。ゆっくりと移動して運転席に座る。
『なあ、アルファ。あのビルの中も昨日のセランタルビルみたいに、機械系モンスター達がぎっしり詰まっていたのか?』
『私にもビルの内部の状況までは分からないわ。でもあの様子なら、その可能性は高いでしょうね』
『そんなに大量に一体どこから湧いて出てきたんだ?』
『いろいろ理由は考えられるけれど、そうね、近くの工場の倉庫にでも大量に在庫があって、それを一斉に放出して、その上で大量生産でもしたのかもね。機械系モンスターには同型同系統のものが多かったわ』
『何で急にそんなことになったんだ?』
『さあ? それが分かれば最低でも100億オーラム手に入るわね。アキラにその気があるなら、後でその件について調べてみる?』
アルファが不敵に笑いながらアキラに提案した。アキラが嫌そうな表情で答える。
した態度を見て緊張と警戒を解いた。助手席に戻って余裕の笑みを浮かべながらアキラに話しかける。
「なかなか刺激的な状況だったわね。あの量はちょっと参ったわ」
「昨日よりはましだ。車で逃げられるからな」
「それもそうね。私も昨日みたいな状況はごめんだわ」
アキラ達は雑談をする余裕を見せながらミハゾノ街遺跡を進んでいく。アキラ達に負傷者はない。ハンター達も問題なく救出できた。後はこのままハンターオフィスの出張所に到着すれば、
救出したハンター達をハンターオフィスの出張所まで送り届ける途中で、アキラが車内に置いている情報端末を見る。その情報端末には短距離通信で送信された緊急依頼が届いたことを示す表示が出ていた。
アキラは事前にエレナからその手の通信を全て無視するように指示されている。物事には優先順位がある。事前に救援の契約を済ませており、救出時の報酬が保証されている方が優先される。それだけのことだ。彼らがすぐ近くで籠城していたとしても、一々停車して助けにいく義理も義務も余裕もない。
受信した緊急依頼はエレナが一応ハンターオフィスへ転送している。運が良ければ誰かがその緊急依頼を受けて助かるかもしれない。既に依頼者が死んでいる可能性が有り、報酬が支払われる保証もない依頼を引き受けるハンターがいるかどうかは別の話だ。
だからアキラは通知の内容を確認しようとはしない。ただ少し気になった。それだけだ。
アルファがアキラの様子に気付いて話す。
『気になるなら通知を消しておく?』
『それにしても、結構取り残されているんだな』
『多分屋内に逃げ込めば比較的安全だと判断したハンターが大勢いたんでしょうね。頑丈な部屋に逃げ込めたハンターがそのまま立て籠もっているんでしょう。自力での帰還を諦めるなら悪い手ではないわ。昨日のセランタルビルの時も、頑丈な部屋に逃げ込めたハンターは生きているかもね』
『いや、そうだとしても、あの状況から脱出するの無理だろう』
『さっきも言った通り、自力での帰還を諦めるなら、の話よ』
『......ビル内の状況が改善すれば、まだ望みはあるか』
あの機械の群れが帰還する条件などアキラには分からない。アキラ達がビルから脱出した後にいなくなったかもしれない。今もビル内を
確かめに行くつもりもないので、アキラはそれ以上考えるのを止めた。
アキラ達は何事もなくハンターオフィスの出張所まで帰還できた。帰り道でモンスターの散発的な襲撃を受けたものの、問題なく対処できる程度の規模だった。行きで大半の機械系モンスター達を撃破したためか、あるいは別のハンターを襲っている最中だったのだろう。
アキラ達がハンターオフィスの出張所の前に車を
アキラはすぐに扉が開くものと思っていたが、扉は閉まったままで開く気配がない。そのことを不思議がっていると、武装した集団がアキラ達に近付いてくる。彼らの隊長らしき男が、手に持っている情報端末とエレナを見比べた後にエレナに話しかける。
「C32地点の救出依頼を引き受けたハンターだな? 顧客はその車両の中か?」
「そうよ。後は任せても良いかしら?」
「シカラベ。開けてちょうだい」
エレナがシカラベに連絡を入れると、装甲兵員輸送車の後部の扉がゆっくりと開き始めた。
助け出されたハンター達は扉の外の光景を見て、出張所の近くまで戻ってきたことを実感して改めて
隊長らしき男が開ききった扉の前に立って車両の中のハンター達に話しかける。
「アルハイン保険の者です。今から皆様を治療と諸手続きのために簡易診療所まで御案内いたします。係員の指示に従って同行をお願いいたします。自力での移動が困難な方は、近くの係員にお申し付けください」
車内のハンター達がゆっくりとした足取りで車から降りて先導する係員の後に付いていく。自力で歩く者、他のハンターに肩を貸してもらう者、係員に担架で運ばれていく者など様々だ。
そして歩いているハンター達の中に、思い詰めた表情で周囲の様子を気にしている男がいた。男は過度の緊張のためか荒い呼吸をしていた。銃を握る手も僅かに震えていた。そして周囲の人間、特にアルハイン保険の人間との距離を気にしていた。
男の前にいる別のハンターが近くにいた係員に尋ねている。
「知り合いと連絡を取りたいんだけど、ここでも
係員の意識は彼が応対しているハンターに向けられている。周囲を気にしていた男は、最も近くにいる係員の意識が今は自分に向けられていないと判断する。それで男は覚悟を決めてしまった。男がその場から必死の形相で全力で走り出した。
しかしこの場から逃げだそうとした男は、男の死角で警戒していたアルハイン保険の部隊員にあっさり捕らえられた。部隊員が男を地面に押し倒し、
周囲の者達の視線が部隊員と拘束された男に集まる。アルハイン保険の職員が他のハンター達に向けて笑顔で話す。
「要らぬ誤解を招く行動はくれぐれも御遠慮願います。アルハイン保険との諸手続きが終了するまで、事前の相談なく不用意に離れないようお願いいたします。くれぐれも御注意ください」
アキラは少し驚きながらその光景を見ていた。しかしエレナ達は想定の範囲内だったのか、全く驚いていない。この辺りはハンターとしての経験の差なのだろう。
程なくして装甲兵員輸送車にいた全てのハンターがアルハイン保険の部隊員に引き渡された。
エレナがアルハイン保険の社員と依頼の諸手続きをしている。装甲兵員輸送車の中からシカラベがアキラを呼ぶ。
「アキラ。連中の忘れ物が車内に残っていないか、お前も見ておいてくれ」
「分かった。忘れ物が見つかったらどうすれば良いんだ?」
「旧世界の遺物や装備品とかは、そのまま車の外に運んでくれ。腕やら脚やらが残っていたら、死体袋に
程なくしてアキラ達は依頼の後処理を終えた。アルハイン保険の部隊長がエレナに話す。
「お疲れさん。良かったら別の依頼も引き受けないか? 実はC47地点の救出依頼を受けたハンターが消息不明なんだ。C32地点の救出依頼を完遂した実績があるってことで、今なら多少報酬を優遇するぞ?」
「私宛ての依頼のリストに入れておいて。検討はしておくわ」
部隊長はそれだけ言って部下達と一緒に帰っていった。
アキラ達は邪魔にならないように移動すると車から降りて再び集まった。エレナが皆に次の予定を話し始める。
「取りあえず弾薬等の補給も兼ねて、また1時間休憩にしましょう。各自しっかり補給を済ませておくこと。それと、今回の依頼の皆の感触を教えてちょうだい。この依頼を決めた私が言うのも何だけど、想定した難易度を超えていたわ。だから次はもう少し易しめの依頼を受けるつもりよ」
アキラが同感の意を表情に出して答える。
「確かに少々厳しい箇所も有りましたので、その方が良いと思います」
「作戦行動の予定時間を切り上げる必要が生じたんだ。俺を含めて状況認識が甘かったわけだ。多少報酬が下がったとしても、余裕を持って行動できる難易度の依頼にしてくれ」
「あのビルから湧いて出てきた機械系モンスターの量を考えると、救援対象がビルの奥で立て籠もっている場合の避難路の確保も考え物だわ。ビルの内部であの量のモンスターを相手にするのはちょっと避けたいわね」
「それが大きめのビルなら、その時点でビル内部への突入は捨てた方が良いかもね。ビルの中で追い立てられるのはもう御免だわ」
エレナはこの場にいるハンター達を結構稼ぎの良い者達だと判断している。その手の人間は報酬額を下げた依頼を受けると自尊心に響く懸念がある。だがこの反応なら安全を少々強めに考慮しても良いだろう。エレナはそう判断した。
「分かったわ。次は結構慎重に易しめの依頼を選ぶことにするわね」
っていたことに気付いていた。だが比較的安価な依頼が続くことに不満がないのも事実で、不満がないように装う必要もなかった。キャロルの興味はアキラへ向いており、その程度の小銭を惜しむ気持ちなどない。
アキラが補給屋で購入した装甲タイルを車体に貼り付けている。手作業だ。結構面倒な作業だ。しかし手を抜けばそれだけ死にやすくなるのだ。アキラは丁寧に作業を続けていく。
『随分剥ぎ取られていたんだな』
アルファが平然と答える。
『あれだけ攻撃を食らえば当然よ。その攻撃を
しがある。当たり前だが高性能な製品ほど値段が高い。そして高性能な商品ほど費用対効果が悪化していく。アキラはアルファの勧めでかなり高額な装甲タイルを購入した。補給屋で販売されていた装甲タイルの中では2番目に高額な商品だ。なお最も高額な装甲タイルは地域の相場とは桁違いに高い値段が付けられていた。
「アキラ。これが終わったらどうするの?」
「特に考えていない。集合時間まで適当に暇を潰すつもりだ」
「そう。それなら......」
軽い食事にでも誘おうとしたキャロルの言葉は、アキラのどこかずれた発言に遮られた。キャロルが困惑気味の声を出す。
「......私の方もすぐに終わるわ」
作業を終えたアキラが本当に柔軟体操を始める。キャロルは少し
「柔軟体操をする理由を聞いてもいい?」
「関節の可動域を広げて体を柔らかくすると、健康にも身体能力の向上にもいろいろ役に立つって聞いたからだ。俺はちょっと体が固いんだ。後は強化服の操作の訓練も兼ねている」
キャロルが知りたかったのは柔軟体操の有用性ではなく、
その負荷を軽減するためにも体の柔軟性の向上は重要だ。思いつきでの行動かもしれないが、アキラは別に無駄なことをしているわけではない。
キャロルがもう少し詳しく尋ねていれば、その辺りの認識のずれがもう少し縮まったかもしれない。しかしアキラはキャロルから少々奇異な部分がある人物として認識され始めているので、その機会は失われてしまった。
「私、体の柔軟性には自信が有る方なの。見てみる?」
アキラが前屈を止めてキャロルを見る。キャロルはアキラの視線が自分に移ったことを確認すると、得意げな笑顔を浮かべながら右脚を大きく上げて片足で立つ。大きく
キャロルが普通の姿勢に戻してアキラに話す。
「ありがとう。大したものでしょう?」
「どうすればそこまで体が柔らかくなるんだ?」
「そうなのか。......でも確かにキャロルぐらい体が柔らかい人が使用していた強化服を、そのデータを残したままで他の人が使用したら、大変なことになりそうだな」
アキラは以前シカラベから聞いた話を思い出して、少しだけ表情を
アキラはシカラベから聞いた話をキャロルに話した。話を聞いたキャロルは納得した表情を浮かべて、その話に付け加える。
アキラはその光景を自分に置き換えて想像してしまった。両手足の関節が逆に曲がり
(装備品はシズカさんの店で買ったやつだから大丈夫だ。回復薬はカツラギから買っているけど、俺に変なものを売りつけたらどうなるかぐらいは考えているはずだ。大丈夫だろう。......多分)
「そう。その辺に不安があるなら私のお勧めの店でも紹介しようと思ったけど、大丈夫そうね」
アキラが嫌そうに答えた。アルファが強化服を操作すればもう少し体を伸ばせるだろう。しかし先ほどのキャロルの話を聞いた後なので少々尻込みしてしまう。
『それを聞いて俺が安心するとでも思っているのか? 自分でやるよ』
アキラはアルファを信用しているが、それとこれとは話は別だ。強化服の操作の訓練を兼ねて、自力で柔軟体操を続ける。
集合時間が近づいてきてエレナ達が来るまで、アキラはそのまま柔軟体操を続けていた。
エレナ達と合流した後は雑談をしながらシカラベの到着を待つ。アキラは雑談の中でエレナから前回の依頼の内容について少し詳しいことを聞いていた。帰ってきたらアルハイン保険の部隊が待っていたこと。急に逃げだそうとした男がいたこと。それらのことが少し気になっていたので聞いてみたのだ。
エレナは自身の推察を交えてアキラに説明した。前回の救出依頼はココレンスというハンターがアルハイン保険と契約した救援保険を元にしていた。定期的な連絡が途絶えた場合、若しくは救出要請を受けた場合、救出部隊を派遣して安全な場所まで輸送するという保険契約だ。
アルハイン保険の調査により推定された大まかな居場所に到着した後は、ココレンスの情報端末を頼りにして彼らの居場所を探していた。運良くココレンスの情報端末と通話が
エレナが事前に得ていた情報では救出対象は8名だ。しかし生存者の人数だけでも10名を超え、死者を含めると20名を超えていた。そこまでなら途中で他のハンター達と合流して立て籠もっていただけだとも解釈できる。だが通話先の相手からそのことに対する説明はなかった。
更に相手の態度や話の内容から、通話先の相手が本当にココレンス本人かどうかを疑い始めたエレナは、相手が別人であると仮定して、そう偽る理由を推察した。
楽観的に考えれば、精神的に追い詰められていた状況下で、本人が近くに居らず、すぐに本人だと名乗らなければ助けに来ないと考えてしまい、
警戒が必要だが状況的にその真偽を確かめる時間も余裕もない。一度に連れ帰る人数としては多すぎるが、安全の為に半分置いていくなどと言ったら暴動が起きる。エレナはその確認と対処を全てアルハイン保険側に押しつけることにした。
「本来なら救出後にハンター証を見せてもらうぐらいのことはするのだけど、下手に刺激しないようにそれも止めておいたわ。私達が引き受けた依頼は、自力での帰還が困難な人の救出。それ以外は私達の仕事ではないってことで、アルハイン保険側の了承も取れたしね」
「単純に助けに行けば良いってものでもないんですね」
「そういうことよ。救出する相手が善人だって保証はないわ。それに普通の人だって切羽詰まれば判断を誤ることもある。緊急依頼で絶対支払えない報酬額を提示してしまったりね。到底支払えない額の費用を請求された場合、その人は多額の借金を背負うことになる。そういう人物が安全な場所に着いた途端に思い切って逃げ出すことは十分あり得るわ。その場合、最悪助けた相手と交戦する羽目になるわね。アキラも注意しなさい」
アキラは深く
Ch 117
After the situation suddenly worsened, Elena finally decided to pull out sooner than she planned. She had a grim face as she said to Shikarabe.
"Shikarabe! We need to withdraw now!!"
Shikarabe immediately replied with a firm answer without asking any question to Elena. It was because he understood they were not in a situation where she could leisurely answer his question.
Shikarabe then shouted to the other Hunters inside the building.
"We're leaving soon!! If you don't get into the APC now, we'll leave you behind!! So hurry up!"
Shikarabe picked up a guy who was lying on the ground, he was the guy that Shikarabe threw not too long ago. Since no one carried him, he was left there lying on the ground until now. Shikarabe just thought that it would leave a bad aftertaste if he just left that guy there since he was the one who knocked that guy unconscious.
After Shikarabe gave off that sudden announcement, a Hunter said in a panic.
"Wait for a second!! We still have some relics inside..."
Shikarabe just ignored that Hunter and went back to the APC, he then threw the guy that he was carrying inside and quickly got on the driver seat.
The Hunters who stood there carrying relics looked sadly at their relics before leaving it behind and running into the APC. It was because they understood well that Shikarabe was serious when he said he would leave them behind.
The back door of the APC started closing even before all the Hunters in that place were able to get inside, and when Shikarabe immediately started the engine, the remaining Hunters started running toward the APC in a frenzy.
Shikarabe suddenly accelerated the APC. It blazed as fast as it could out of the building site under the barrage of bullets coming from above. The entrance to the building site was half-filled with wreckages of dead monsters. But he just smashed his way through using the momentum of his APC.
Elena, Sara, Akira, and Carol followed behind Shikarabe. Numerous monsters flooded out from the building such that the surrounding area was filled with them, some of them even started chasing Akira. But Akira was way faster than them, and by shooting down the monsters that were leading the pack chasing for Akira, they were turned into obstacles that slowed the monsters behind them even more. Thus it was an easy thing for Akira to get away from those monsters.
After they opened up some distance from that building site, Alpha smiled at Akira and said.
Akira sighed in relief. It seemed that he was able to escape from the dangerous situation for now as he went back to the driver seat and relaxed for a bit.
"Say, Alpha. Is that building also filled with monsters just like the Seranthal building from yesterday?"
"I can't exactly grasp the situation inside that building. But looking at what happened just now, I think that's highly possible."
"I wonder where all of those monsters came from."
"I can come up with a lot of theories, but well, I think there's a warehouse somewhere nearby filled with those monsters and they were suddenly dispatched at the same time, and also factories nearby also suddenly started producing those monsters at a high rate. After all, most of those mechanical monsters were all the same type."
"Then why did something like that suddenly happen?"
"No idea. As a matter of fact, if you know the reason why, you can sell that information for 10,000,000,000 Aurum. If you're interested, we can try to investigate later, you know?"
Alpha was smiling confidently at Akira when she made that suggestion. But he instead made a displeased face and replied.
Carol, who saw Akira relaxed back, also lowered her guard. She then returned to the driver's assistant seat and said to Akira while smiling at him.
"That was pretty dangerous. They're just simply too many of them."
"It's still better than yesterday. This time we could run away using a vehicle after all."
"Well, you're right about that. As expected, even I too don't want to get through the same thing as yesterday again."
Akira and the rest of the team were driving through the Mihazono ruin, they were in a situation where they had enough leeway to chit chat. None of them were injured during the rescue and they were able to rescue the Hunters inside that building. They just needed to return back to the Hunter Office now. It seemed that they did well in that rescue operation. They just blazed through the road while crushing the leftover wreckages of dead monsters scattered around under their wheels.
In the middle of their way back to the Hunter Office, Akira checked his information terminal that he put in his vehicle. It was showing that he received an emergency SOS request sent through a local connection.
Elena had told him beforehand to just ignore those emergency requests, after all, they had to prioritize finishing the contract that they had taken first and make sure that they would get the reward before thinking about the other requests. That was all there was to it. Even if those Hunters who sent the emergency SOS request were barricading themselves somewhere near, Akira could not afford to stop every single time to save them, he had no responsibility to do something like that nor he had the leeway to do so.
But it was not like they completely ignored those requests, Elena at least forwarded that SOS emergency request to the Hunter Office. If those Hunters were lucky, someone would accept that request. Although it was a completely different problem whether anyone would take that request which had no guarantee of getting paid with the promised reward, even the person who sent that request might as well already be dead by now.
That was why Akira did not even think of checking the details of those emergency SOS requests. It just aroused his interest for a bit, that was all there was to it.
Alpha noticed that, she then said to Akira.
"If it bothers you, I can just erase those notices."
"But well, there are still so many of those requests left, huh?"
"I'm sure it's because most of the Hunters thought that it would be safer if they barricaded themselves inside a building, I bet that's why a lot of them decided to do that. I think that's indeed a good option in case they can't return back on their own. I bet some of the Hunters who decided to barricade themselves inside the Seranthal building from yesterday are still alive even right now."
"Well, even if that's true, it's impossible to get out from there in that situation, you know."
"As I said, it's indeed a good choice only if they have given up returning back on their own."
"...Ahh, if the situation inside the building gets better later, I guess they still have some hope, huh."
Akira had no idea in what situation those monsters would leave the Seranthal building. They might have already left the building since Akira left yesterday, but they might be still there even now.
Since Akira had no plans to go there and check it himself, he just decided to forget about it.
Elena and her team were able to return back to the Hunter Office without encountering any trouble. Although they encountered some monsters on their way back, they were only in small packs, so they could handle those monsters just fine. It was either because they killed most of the monsters in that route when they were heading out to save the Hunters, or it was simply because those monsters were in the middle of fighting another group of Hunters, that was why there were only small packs of monsters.
Elena and her team parked their vehicles in front of the Hunter Office's parking lot. Akira, Carol, Elena, and Sara stood in front of the backdoor of Shikarabe's APC. The door itself was still closed.
Akira thought that the door would immediately open, but it did not seem that it would open anytime soon. Right when he thought that it was rather strange, an armed group approached them. The guy who was taking command of that squad compared the data in his information terminal with the data in Elena's information terminal. After that, he asked Elena.
"You guys are the Hunters who took the C32 area rescue request, right? Are the rescued Hunters inside that vehicle?"
"Yep, can I just leave the rest to you then?"
"Shikarabe, open the door."
After she said that, the back door of the APC slowly opened up.
As the rescued Hunters looked around, they realized that they were back in the Hunter Office, all of them looked really relieved. But in contrast to that, some of those Hunters were making a grim face while hanging their heads low. They looked really desperate as if they were driven to the corner.
The squad commander then stood in front of the opened door and said to the Hunters inside the APC.
"We're from Alhain insurance company. We'll escort you to an emergency clinic to check if any of you need any treatment. I hope that all of you will cooperate and follow our orders. If any of you having trouble moving on your own, please let us know."
Those Hunters then slowly boarded off the APC one by one following the instruction from the people from Alhain insurance company. Some of them could walk on their own, some of them could only walk with the help of others, some of them could not walk and had to be carried with a stretcher.
Among all of those walking Hunters, one of them looked extremely pale and worried. He was breathing roughly and his hand that was holding his gun was slightly shaking. He was keeping his distance from the other people around him, especially from the people from Alhain insurance company.
Another Hunter in front of him asked a staff nearby.
"Uhh, excuse me, I want to contact my friend but I can't seem to get any connection from here, can you help me?"
That staff shifted his focus from that nervous Hunter to another Hunter who asked him that question. When that nervous Hunter noticed it, he made his resolve and suddenly started running.
But when he started running, another Alhain soldier who was standing guard in his blindside immediately held him down. That soldier locked his movements by pushing him down on the ground. He looked like he was in pain on the ground as his weapons were taken away from him. The other guards came and cuffed both of his hands and legs, thus rendering him harmless.
The other Hunters in that area looked at that guy being secured by Alhain's soldiers. One of the Alhain soldiers then turned to the other Hunters, smiled, and said.
"Please stop trying anything that might cause misunderstanding. Don't try to leave without our permission until you finish all the administration work with us. I hope all of you will cooperate."
Akira was watching when that incident happened, he looked pretty surprised by it. But the other Hunters looked completely normal as if they expected something like that to happen. It clearly showed the difference in their experiences as Hunters.
It did not take long for Shikarabe and Elena to hand over all the Hunters that they rescued to Alhain insurance company.
Elena was negotiating with someone from Alhain insurance company when Shikarabe called Akira to come in from inside the APC.
"Akira, come and help me check if any of them left anything behind."
"Sure, what should I do if I find something?"
"If it's a relic or a piece of equipment, just leave it outside the APC. If it's a body or limbs, gather them all inside a corpse bag and put them outside. You can find the empty corpse bag under the seat."
It only took a while for them to finish searching the inside of the APC. That was when the commander of the squad from Alhain insurance company said to Elena.
"Thanks for the hard work. If it's okay with you, would you take another request from us? Actually, we lost contact with the Hunters who took the rescue request to area C47. Since you've finished the rescue request to area C32 from us, we're willing to give you an extra bonus for the reward if you're willing to take this request."
"Just leave it in the request list for me, I'll think about it."
After that, the squad commander left with the rest of his squad.
Elena and his team moved their vehicles to another place first as not to block the way to the Hunter Office before they grouped up again to discuss what to do next.
"First thing first, let's take a 1-hour break to replenish our supplies. So make sure to use this time to properly replenish your ammo and other expendables. And also, can you guys tell me your impression about the last request that we just took? Although it's kind of weird for me to say it myself since I'm the one who decided to pick that request, that last one was harder than I thought it would be. That's why I'm thinking of picking an easier one for the next request."
Akira agreed with Elena's opinion as he said.
"It's true that the last request was pretty dangerous, so I think that is a good idea."
"We did decide to withdraw sooner than we planned. I believe that, including me, we underestimated the difficulty of that request. So I think it's a good idea to take an easier request, it doesn't matter even though it means that we would get less reward out of it."
"Judging from the number of mechanical monsters that were flooding out from the inside of that building, it means that we really need to think about the escape route in case if our rescue targets barricaded themselves deep inside a building. Honestly speaking, I don't want to fight that many monsters in a closed space."
"And in case if it's a bigger building, it might be better to just forget the idea of going inside that building right from the start. I don't want those monsters chasing me inside such a building after all."
Elena believed that all of the Hunters gathered here were relatively successful Hunters, and some of them hated the idea of taking a request with low reward. But looking at how they reacted to her idea, it seemed there should be no problem prioritizing safety for now.
"Got it then, so for the next request, I'll decide on an easier one."
Carol noticed that Akira was checking on her. It was true that she had no complaint taking easier requests with relatively small rewards and she had no reason to fake that. Carol's attention was all focused on Akira, so she had no interest at all about the small reward.
Akira was putting the armour plating in one of the supply depots. It was a manual job, a pretty boring and bothersome work. But if he was careless, he would have to pay for it with his life. He knew that very well, thus he spent extra effort focusing on putting on those armour tiles.
"I lost quite a lot of armour plating this time."
Alpha casually replied.
"It's no surprise after taking on those attacks. If you don't want to take them bare, head-on, make sure to properly install all the armour plating."
Dealing with armour plating was a tricky business. Of course, the more expensive it was, the more durable the plating would be. But if Akira wanted to get even better plating, the cost-value ratio would drop fast. This time, he bought expensive armour plating that Alpha recommended. It was the second most expensive armour plating in that supply depot. The price gap between that armour plating and the most expensive armour plating in that supply depot was huge.
"Akira, what's your plan after this?"
"I still haven't thought about it at the moment. But I'm planning to just take it easy until the break time is over."
"Is that so? In that case..."
Carol actually was about to invite Akira to a meal or something, but she was cutoff midway with that sudden statement from him. She could not help but express her surprise.
"...I'll be done soon too."
After they finished putting on all the armour plating, Akira really started working out. Carol just stood there watching him with a flabbergasted face. He seemed a little bit in pain as he slowly stretched his body. Carol then asked Akira a question.
"Is it okay if I ask you why would you be working out right now?"
"I heard that increasing the flexibility of my joints and my muscles is good for my health and it can help strengthen my body. Actually, I have a pretty stiff body, you see. And also, this works as my augmented suit training too."
Carol actually was not asking about the benefit of working out, she was asking why Akira started working out right now. Or at least, according to her experience, there was no guy that would actually start working out during a break time together with her. She then thought that it might be just out of whim and decided not to ask any further.
In order to minimize those types of injuries, Akira had to increase his body's strength and flexibility. Although he did that out of whim, it was indeed something that would be useful for him in the future.
If Carol asked more detail about that, she might be able to understand why Akira did that. But since she started to identify him as a boy with a weird personality, she lost her chance to know more about him.
"My body is actually pretty flexible, you know. Want to see?"
Akira stopped stretching and turned to her. After Carol confirmed that Akira was looking at her, she smiled confidently as she raised her right leg while still standing. She kept raising her right leg until both of her legs almost formed a straight line while keeping her balance standing on one leg.
Carol returned back on her right leg and said.
"Thank you, it's pretty amazing, isn't it?"
"How exactly did you get your body that flexible?"
"Is that so? But now that I think about it, if someone else tries to put on your augmented suit with your data still left in it, I'm sure it would cause a big disaster."
Akira remembered about his conversation with Shikarabe the other day and frowned. Carol was interested in that remark, so she inquired about that subject further.
Akira then told Carol what Shikarabe told him in the past. Carol seemed to be listening closely to his story and agreed with what Shikarabe had told him. She then added to that information.
Akira imagined something like that happening to him. The image of his body turned 180 degrees and just laid there in the middle of the old-world ruin unable to move was pretty scary.
[I buy my equipment from Shizuka-san's shop, so it should be alright. Although I buy my medicines from Katsuragi, I'm sure he won't sell me any dangerous drug since he knows what I'll do to him if he does that. It should be alright... Right?]
"Is that so? If you're worried about something, I can introduce you to shops that I recommend, but it seems that I don't need to do that, huh..."
Akira sounded displeased when he said that. He knew that he would be able to stretch his body even more if Alpha controlled his augmented suit. But he got a bit scared after listening to Carol's explanation just now.
"Do you really think it would make me feel safe by telling me that? I'll do the stretching myself."
Akira did trust Alpha, but this and that were two different things. So he kept stretching with his own ability which also served as a training for operating his augmented suit on his own.
Akira kept on working out until Elena and Sara came as their break time was about to end.
After Elena and Sara arrived, they were just having a chat with each other while waiting for Shikarabe. As for Akira, he was asking questions to Elena about the detail of the request that they took last time, about why the people from Alhain insurance company were waiting for them when they returned, the guy who was trying to run away back then, and the other things that piqued his interest.
Elena then offered an explanation to Akira based on her guess. The Cocolens guy who they had to save back there was someone who was contracted with Alhain insurance company. According to that contract, if they lost contact with him after a certain period of time, or if he sent a rescue request, the company would dispatch a squad to escort him to safety.
After they arrived at the location based on the information obtained from Alhain's investigation, Elena first tried to look for Cocolens' location based on his information terminal. Fortunately enough, she was able to make a call with that guy. But after she asked him some questions to check the situation over there, she found something weird.
The information that Elena obtained beforehand said that there should be only 8 people, but there were more than a dozen survivors and more than 20 dead Hunters. It was not strange since he might group up with the other Hunters before they barricaded themselves inside that building, but the problem was that he did not say anything about that during his call with her.
And then after Elena asked that person some more questions, she started to get suspicious if he was not the real Cocolens and started to make guesses as to why he would lie there.
If she was being optimistic, that guy might be under immense stress, and with the real Cocolens not around, he thought that the rescue team would not come unless he assumed that name. Thus, he ended up doing that in panic. If that was all there was to it, then it was not a big problem at all. Elena could just simply rescue them and normally escort them back to the Hunter Office.
Although she had to be extremely careful there, she did not have the leeway to wait for confirmation first. There were too many of them to transport in one go, but they might riot if she told them that only half of them would be escorted back to the Hunter Office first. Thus she pushed dealing with the aftermath including the confirmation to Alhain insurance company.
"Normally, we would ask them to show their Hunter IDs, but I decided not to do that in order not to provoke them too much. Our request is basically saving Hunters who can't return back on their own. So we have no obligation to do anything more than that, that was why I left the aftermath to Alhain insurance company and they also gave us their approval."
"So it's not that simple, huh. It's not like we can just go out there and save those Hunters."
"Yep, that's correct. There's no guarantee that the Hunters we're going to rescue are good Hunters. Moreover, most people tend to make bad decisions when they're pushed to the corner like offering a big reward that they can't pay when they send out an emergency SOS request. And when they have to pay more than what they have in hand, they'll end up drowning in debt. People like that sometimes immediately try to run away the moment they are escorted to a safe place, and when that happens, in the worst-case scenario a shootout will occur between them and the people who rescued them. That's why you too need to be careful out there okay, Akira?"
Akira nodded firmly and deeply. Elena was happy to see that since it seemed that, as a senior Hunter, she was able to teach something useful to Akira, who was a junior Hunter.
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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