アルファがアキラを励ますように笑う。
『大丈夫。対価の残りを受け取るのが少し遅れるだけよ。期待して待っていなさい』
アキラは気を取り直し、表情を引き締めて深く
気味に気力を取り戻すと、その意気に乗って次の計画を立てる。
「アルファ。明日また遺跡に行く。構わないか?」
アキラが手に持った紙袋の中身に視線を移す。中にはナイフや医療品など、売らずに残しておいた遺物が入っている。今のアキラには十分すぎる貴重品だ。
「これをどこかに隠す必要もあるしな。取りあえず裏路地に行くか」
昨日の寝床を目指してスラム街の裏路地を進んでいると、アルファが急にアキラを手で制して止めた。
「どうしたんだ?」
『アキラ。注意して』
アルファが前方を指差した。するとその方向、路地裏の脇道から3人の子供が現れた。アキラが警戒していると、アキラの後ろから更に2人現れた。全員アキラと同じスラム街の住人で
この5人組のリーダーはアキラのちょうど前にいるダルベという少年だ。そのダルベが笑いながらありふれた用件を告げる。
「金を出してもらおうか。持ってるんだろう?」
アキラは予想通りの内容に険しい表情を浮かべた。そして取り
を吐くなよ。見てたんだぜ? お前、買取所から出てきただろう。それに昨日も今日も遺跡の方へ向かっていた。昨日は買取所には行かなかったようだが、今日は寄っていた。何か見付けて売ってきたんだろう? それなら金があるはずだ」
ダルベ達はアキラがクズスハラ街遺跡に向かったのを見て、買取所の近くで様子を探っていた。遺物を探しに危険な遺跡に出かけるより、そこから帰ってきた者を襲った方が安全だ。この手の思考を持つ者は少なくない。
く。そしてはっきりと答える。
「300オーラムしかねえよ」
「は? 冗談だろう?」
「冗談じゃない。あいつらは俺が持ち込んだものに300オーラムしか払わなかった。
「悪かったな。もう行っても良いか?」
ダルベの仲間はもう大分やる気を失っていた。だがダルベは襲撃を主導した分だけまだやる気が残っていた。改めてアキラを見て金目のものを探る。だがアキラの服はボロボロで奪う価値もない。持っている紙袋もどこか薄汚れており、中身も高値で売れる物とはとても思えない。普段ならそれでダルベもやる気を失っていた。だが今回は久々のカモだと思い、仲間に気前の良いことを言っていた分だけ
「あー、クソッ! もう良い! 死にたくなかったら、その300オーラムをよこせ!」
警戒を続けていたアキラが表情を更に険しくする。
「......俺を撃ち殺しても損するだけだぞ? 俺だって反撃ぐらいはするからな? 300オーラムの
「うるせえ! 良いからとっとと出しやがれ!」
金無しを撃ち殺しても弾代が掛かるだけ。死に物狂いで反撃されれば自分達も
『アキラ。小さな声で答えて。どんなに小さな声でも私にはちゃんと聞こえるから安心して。分かった?』
『必要なら私がサポートするけれど、どれにする? 渡す。逃げる。殺す。選んで?』
命懸けで稼いだ金を渡して生き延びることも出来る。しかし、次もまた渡さなければならない。
必死に逃げて生き延びることも出来る。しかし、次もまた逃げなければならない。
敵を殺して生き延びることも出来る。しかし、逆に殺されるかもしれない。
アキラは迷わずに選んだ。
「......殺す」
アルファが不敵に
「......分かった。振り返るタイミングは?」
アキラは即座に振り返った。
右足を踏み出して1歩目。少年達が突然振り返ったアキラに驚いて僅かに硬直する。
左足を踏み出して2歩目。少年達が腕を伸ばしてアキラを捕まえようとするが、その腕はアキラが転げるように身を
「おい! 危ねえじゃねえか!」
「うるせえ! あいつが急に動いたのが悪いんだよ! あの野郎ふざけやがって! ぶっ殺してやる! おい! あいつを追うぞ!」
別の少年が面倒そうに答える。
「ほっとけよ。金のねえやつを襲っても仕方ねえだろう? それにもう逃げられたんだ。あいつを狙うなら、あいつがまた買取所に行った後にしようぜ? その時はあいつも金を持ってるだろうさ」
もうやる気を失っている仲間達の様子に、ダルベは不服そうに舌打ちしてアキラを追うのを諦めた。仲間達と一緒にその場から離れ始める。そして少し離れた辺りで未練がましく振り返り、アキラが消えた路地の方に視線を向けた。
次の瞬間、ダルベの表情が驚きに染まる。アキラがその路地から勢い良く飛び出して銃を向けてきたのだ。ダルベは偶然振り返っていたおかげで、反射的にアキラの銃撃から逃れて無傷で済んだ。だが他の者はアキラの銃撃を
の声を上げて倒れていく。
アキラが険しい表情で裏路地を走っている。銃撃後、命中確認もせずに急いで路地に戻ったおかげで、既にダルベ達から大分離れていた。
「アルファ! どうなった!?」
『3人に命中したわ。戦闘不能は2名ってところね。全員生きているわ』
アキラは別に銃の名手ではない。路地から飛び出した直後に3人も命中させるなど本来は不可能だ。路地に飛び出してから敵を探し、悠長に照準を合わせて銃撃し、その場に
き込む。アキラの姿は見えない。しかしどこかに潜んでいる可能性を考えて、運良く無事だった仲間と一緒に警戒しながら路地を進む。
その少年がそのまま路地の奥に進もうとするダルベに不安そうな表情を向ける。
「お、おい! あいつらどうするんだよ! 放っとく気か!?」
「まずはあいつを殺すんだよ! そうしないとあいつらを安全な場所に動かすことも出来ねえだろうが! 診療所に運んでいる間に撃たれたらどうする気だ!」
「そ、そうか。そうだな。......見捨てる気じゃ、ないよな?」
ダルベは一応納得した様子の仲間に
「......これで3人。あと2人か」
『すぐに隠れるわよ』
アキラは再び他の路地に身を隠した。路地の壁を背にして息を整えていると、アルファから次の指示が出る。
だからな! お前があいつを襲ったからだ!」
ダルベも逃げようと思えば逃げられた。だが仲間を殺された憎悪と逃げ出した少年への侮蔑に背を押され、逃げようなどとは思えず、その激情のままに叫び、動く。
逃げた少年を銃撃可能な横道は一か所だけだ。ダルベは殺し合いの恐怖を憎悪で押し流し、その勢いのままアキラの居場所へ走り出した。
アキラは身を潜めた路地でダルベを迎え撃とうとしていた。アルファはアキラの少し前に立ち、ダルベを指差して大体の位置を教えている。
「そうだったのか。ああ、だから先に回復薬を使ったのか」
アキラは回復薬の鎮痛作用のおかげで重傷の体を無理
次に震える手でカプセルを開き、中身を傷口に振りかける。その途端、被弾時と変わらない激痛がアキラを襲う。歯を食い縛って何とか耐えた後、少し不安混じりの視線をアルファに向ける。
「ア、アルファ、これ、大丈夫なのか?」
『直接投与すると鎮痛作用の効き目が低下するの。でも負傷箇所に治療用ナノマシンを直接投与しているから、効果は経口より高くなるわ。我慢して』
最後に紙袋から包帯のような治療用テープを取り出して傷の上に貼り付けた。
『治療は終わったわね。急いで移動しましょう。このままここにいるのは危険だわ』
「動けるかどうか......、いや、無理
アルファが今にも倒れそうなアキラを真剣な表情で励ます。
アキラは何とか昨日とは別の寝床に辛うじて
「......アルファ。俺はもう限界だ。寝る。お休み」
『お休みなさい。ゆっくり休んで』
ると、その意識がすぐに闇に飲み込まれていく。
(......ちゃんと目が覚めますように)
胴体に違和感を覚えて手を当てると、昨日被弾した辺りに何か硬い物の感触があった。そこをよく調べると、治療用テープの下に何かが存在していた。テープを慎重に剥がしてみると、少し変形した弾丸が現れた。弾丸は体に
り込んでいるように見えるが、実際には体外に押し出されていた。
体に食い込んだままの弾丸を強引に抜き取り、治療用のテープを貼り直す。痛みは完全に消えていた。
アルファが改めて
くよく眠れた。......少し寝過ぎたな」
既に日が昇っている。普段のアキラの起床時間からは大分遅い時刻だ。アキラの腹が空腹を訴える。夕べは何も食べていない。そしてこのままでは朝食も抜きになる。
い! まだ配給は終わってないよな!?」
アキラは急いで配給所に向かった。ぎりぎり間に合った。
当初の予定では今日もクズスハラ街遺跡へ向かうことになっていたが、アルファの指示で中止となった。アキラの体調を万全にする
旧世界の高度な技術で作成されたものには、現在の技術では再現不可能なものも多い。それは回復薬に限った話ではない。
ある遺跡で発見された小さなナイフは、軽く力を入れただけで肉や魚は
Alpha smiled as if she was trying to cheer him up.
"Don't worry, you'll receive the rest later. So just patiently wait for it, okay?"
Akira composed himself and his expression calmed down as he gave Alpha a deep nod.
As he somehow was able to force himself to calm down, he used that momentum to start thinking of his next plan.
"Alpha, I'm planning to go to the ruins again tomorrow, is that fine with you?"
Akira moved his gaze to the contents in the paper bag that he was carrying. The bag was filled with a knife, medicines, and many other things that he didn't sell. For the current Akira, those things were really valuable.
"Well, we still have to hide these stuff though. So let's head to the back alley first."
As he was heading to the place where he had slept yesterday, Alpha suddenly gave Akira a signal to stop.
"What's wrong?"
"Akira, be careful."
At the direction where Alpha was pointing, 3 children appeared from a small branch road. As Akira was alerted by those children, 2 more children appeared behind him. All these children were from the slum just like Akira and their ages were more or less the same as him.
The leader of these children was the boy named Darbe who was standing right in front of Akira. He laughed and started making demands to Akira.
"Take out your money, you do have some with you now, don't you?"
As expected, after hearing such a demand, Akira's expression turned stiff. But he decided to try to defuse the situation.
"Stop with the lie, I saw it, you know? You just came out from the Exchange Centre, right? You headed to the ruin today and yesterday, but unlike today, you didn't go to the Exchange Centre yesterday. So you did find something, didn't you? Which means that you have some money with you right now."
Darbe and his gang had seen Akira go to ruins and decided to standby around the Exchange Centre. Compared to venturing into the ruin looking for relics themselves, it is way safer to just rob the people who return from the ruin. There are many people who follow this line of thinking. As for these small children, there was no way they could rob an a.d.u.l.t Hunter, and so they had no other choice but to rob other children like Akira. This was one of the reasons why the number of child Hunter kept decreasing.
Akira let out a sigh and answered honestly.
"Look, I have no more than 300 Aurum."
"Hah? Stop screwing with me."
"I'm not screwing with you. They didn't give me anything more than 300 Aurum for all the things that I brought here. I'm not lying, they said that it's the rule. So you see, I don't have much money and it's not worthy of ganking me with 5 people. If you understand now, then just go somewhere else. "
"My bad, so, can I go now?"
It seemed that the other children had lost their will. But that was not the case for Darbe, he still looked like he would tell the other children to attack Akira. Darbe scanned Akira for anything that looked expensive. But Akira was only wearing a ragged dress that was not worth robbing. Moreover, the paper bag that he was carrying was so dirty that it did not look like it had anything of value. Normally, that would be enough to make him give up, but he was so frustrated since he had promised his friends.
"Goddammit!! I don't care anymore!! Give me your 300 Aurum if you don't want to die!"
Akira who was already tensed, stiffened even more.
"...You won't get anything from trying to shoot me, you know? After all, I would definitely fight back. Do you really want to do this for just 300 Aurum? Just stop it."
"Shut up!! Just handover the money!!"
Fighting to the death against a penniless person would only make them deplete their money on the bullets. Moreover, fighting a cornered opponent might cause them fatal injuries. Darbe understood that, but he was looking for a way to vent his frustration and was pushed by the momentum after he pulled his gun. It's 5 vs 1 and he already had his gun out first, having such an advantage made Darbe take a rash decision.
"Akira, answer me quietly. Don't worry, I can hear you no matter how small your voice is. Do you understand?"
"If it's needed, I'll give you my support, so what are you going to do? Handover the money? Or escape? Or maybe kill them?"
If he just gave away the money that he had gotten after risking his life, it might let him survive longer. But it also meant that he had to give up on his money again next time.
He might as well survive if he ran as far as he could. But it meant that he had to run away again next time.
And lastly, he might survive if he killed them. But there was a chance that he might get himself killed in the process.
Akira made a decision without even hesitating.
"...I'll kill them."
Alpha smiled without showing any animosity.
"...I understand. And when exactly should I turn back?"
Akira immediately turned back.
On his first step. the other children stiffened as they were surprised when Akira suddenly turned back.
Then on his second step. the other children extended their hand trying to grab Akira. But their hands reached nothing as Akira leaned forward as if he had tripped. After that, Darbe pulled the trigger, but his bad aim had caused the bullet to pass above Akira who was leaning forward.
"Hey!! That was dangerous, dammit!!"
"Shut up! It's that boy's fault for moving so suddenly!! That damn boy, I'll kill him!! Hey!! What are you standing around for? Chase after him!!"
Another child replied back with an annoyed tone.
"Just give it up, there's nothing we can get from robbing a poor kid like him, right? Moreover, he already got away from us. If you're really going to aim for him, let's just wait until he comes back to the Exchange Centre again. After all, I'm sure he'll have a lot of money by then."
Darbe clicked his tongue in annoyance at his friends who had lost their motivation and gave up on chasing Akira. They disbanded and started getting on their own different ways. But just after taking a few steps, Darbe, who was unwilling to give up on Akira, looked back to the alley where Akira had vanished.
At the next instance, Darbe's expression turned grim. Akira suddenly jumped out from the alley while pointing his gun at him. Darbe was able to evade Akira's bullets since he was coincidentally looking at him. But the other children took the bullet and fell down while crying in agony.
His loud voice that showed his anger reverberated around him.
Meanwhile, Akira was running on the back alley with a grim expression. Since he had immediately ran back into the alley without confirming whether his shots got any hit, he was able to distance himself from Darbe and his gang.
"Alpha! How was that?!"
"3 of them got hit, 2 of them rendered unable to fight. All of them are still alive."
Akira was not someone who was skilled in using a gun. Normally, it would be impossible for him to just jump out of an alley and hit 3 shots. An amateur would normally jump out of the alley and take his time aiming before pulling the trigger, then he would stand there to confirm whether his shots got any hit. But if Akira did that, he would definitely get shot back.
Darbe was watching his surroundings with his gun ready as he peeked into the alley where Akira disappeared. He didn't see Akira there, but he thought that Akira might be lurking somewhere nearby. So, he brought his friend, who fortunately didn't get shot, and cautiously walked deeper into the alley.
One of the children shouted at Darbe with an uneasy look as Darbe was moving deeper into the alley.
"H-hey!! What are we going to do with them?! Are we just going to abandon them?!"
"We'll kill that boy first!! Otherwise, we won't even be able to move those guys to a safer place, you know?!! What would you do if he starts shooting at us while we're carrying them to the clinic?!!"
"I-I see, you're right... It's not like you're planning to abandon them, right?"
Darbe was immensely annoyed at his friend who he was talking with. He thought that if only these guys didn't stop him, then they wouldn't be in that situation.
"...That's 3, only 2 more left."
"Get back to hiding now."
Akira withdrew to another alley and hid himself. As Akira rested his back on the alley's wall and straightened his breathing, Alpha gave him her next instruction.
"I-it's your fault!! It's all your fault!! It's because you shot that boy!!!"
Darbe was also thinking of running away but he couldn't. The hatred from seeing his friends getting killed and the scorn towards his friend who left him, pushed him forward. He just stood there without running away and shouted.
There was only one branch road from where Akira could take a shot at the boy who was running. Darbe just shoved aside his fear of getting killed and ran towards the branch road.
As for Akira, he was getting himself ready for a shoot out against Darbe. He hid himself in the alley as Alpha was standing in front of him and telling him Darbe's position.
"I see, so that's why you told me to take the medicine beforehand, huh?"
It was all thanks to the painkiller that he could still move just fine. Moreover, since he got shot right after he took the medicine, he could immediately focus on tending his wound. Although the effect was light, it allowed Akira to survive.
Akira was somehow able to move his body that had gone numb. He took the paper bag that he dropped not too far from him and swallowed 10 pills. And then he opened up 10 pills with his still shaking hand and sprinkled them directly into his wound. The very same pain as when he got hit, assaulted him as he sprinkled the painkiller on his wound. He just clenched his teeth and somehow was able to bear the pain. And when he was done, he turned to Alpha while looking worried.
"A-Alpha, i-is this good enough?"
"Applying the painkiller directly to the wound would reduce the effectiveness of the painkiller. But on the other hand, that would let the nanomachine in the medicine to work directly on your wound, thus making it more effective. So just bear with it."
Then for the final touch, Akira pulled out the object that looked like a bandage from the paper bag and dressed his wound with it.
"That should be enough. Let's hurry up and move away from this place. It's dangerous if we stay here for long."
"I don't even know if I can move... But I have to get away from this place no matter what or something bad will happen."
Alpha looked at Akira who seemed like he was so close to fainting. To keep him conscious, she cheered him on with a serious face.
Akira somehow managed to get to a different sleeping place from yesterday. He tried to keep himself awake as he was preparing his sleeping place, while watching his surroundings and being more careful than usual. He thought that he would definitely get killed if someone approached him in that situation. So he hid himself in the back alley in such a way so that no one would be able to find him. And when he finished preparing his sleeping place, he just dove into it and laid on his side.
"...Alpha, I'm on my limit. I'll sleep now, goodnight."
"Goodnight, have a good rest."
As Akira closed his eyes while still holding off the pain, his consciousness immediately flew off.
[...I hope I will still be able to open my eyes again tomorrow morning.]
When he checked his arm that was feeling weird, he found something on the place where he got shot yesterday. After looking closer, it was as if something was lodged in between his skin and the healing tape. So he cautiously peeled off the tape and found a malformed bullet. It seemed like the bullet was stuck in his body, and his body had pushed the bullet out.
"That seems to be the case. It looks like the nanomachine tried to get the bullet out from your body but then it was obstructed by the tape. It might be a good idea to take the tape off."
After he forcefully pulled out the bullet that was planted on his skin, he put the tape back on the wound but did not feel pain any longer.
Alpha smiled again.
"Yeah. I really had a good night's sleep... I even overslept for a bit."
The sun was already up, so it was way over Akira's usual waking time. His stomach grumbled, he had not eaten anything since the night before and at this rate he would miss his morning meals too.
"Oh crap!! The food distribution hasn't ended, right?!"
Akira hurriedly went to the food distribution place and he barely made it in time.
Originally, he was planning to go to the Kuzusuhara City ruins, but he canceled it due to Alpha's instruction. In the end, he decided to take rest for a whole day to fully recover his condition.
There are many objects created by the advanced technologies of the old world that can't be reproduced by the current technologies. And that is not only limited to medicines.
As an example, once, a certain small knife relic was found in the ruin. It could easily cut anything by only applying a very small amount of force, forget fish or meat, it could even cut steel and concrete. While at the same time, it couldn't cut human flesh no matter how hard you tried. At a glance, these two functions seems to contradict each other. Moreover, it wouldn't get dull even after you use it to split steel into two, it wouldn't rust even if you get it wet and it wouldn't corrode even when you dip it in aqua regalia. When the researchers from the companies turned off the safety check of the knife, it cut a tank, that was totally unreachable to it, into two before disintegrating it into nothingness.
Rebuild World (WN)
リビルドワールド
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/rebuild-world/
Action Adventure Drama Harem Mecha Mystery Sci-fi Seinen
Abandoned Children Adapted to Manga Adventurers Alternate World Anti-social Protagonist Apocalypse Artificial Intelligence Beautiful Female Lead Cautious Protagonist Child Protagonist Dense Protagonist Determined Protagonist Distrustful Protagonist Futuristic Setting Gangs Gunfighters Harsh Training Lack of Common Sense Male Protagonist Manipulative Characters Monsters Near-Death Experience Older Love Interests Poor Protagonist Poor to Rich Ruthless Protagonist Shota Sudden Strength Gain Survival Twisted Personality Unlucky Protagonist Weak to Strong
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9736dt/
非公開