169 ツバキ
クズスハラ街遺跡の近くまで来たアキラはアルファの指示で進路を変更した。遺跡には入らずに外周部を沿うようにバイクを走らせる。
『アルファ。何でそのまま遺跡に入らないんだ?』
『このまま遺跡の中に入ると仮設基地の近くを通るからよ。遺跡奥部攻略用の後方連絡線として整備中の道を通るわけにもいかないしね』
『いや、だからそっちを通った方が楽だろう? 整備されているんだから』
アルファが分かっていないという表情で首を横に振る。
『そこを通ったら絶対に目立つでしょう? 大した実力もない子供がまた高価な遺物を持ち帰ってきた。そんな
アキラが僅かに不満そうな様子を見せる。
『あの頃の俺とは違うはずだ。何だかんだで5億オーラム近い装備も整えたのに、まだそんな扱いなのか?』
『今のアキラがあの頃とは比較にならないほどの装備と実力を身に着けたのは認めるけれど、目的地の難易度から相対的に判断すれば、実力不足の子供って
『......無理』
僅かに気落ちしているアキラに、アルファがアキラを諭しているようにも、励ましているようにも見える笑顔を向けた。アキラは苦笑を返してバイクを加速させた。そのまま
『アルファ? 前は塞がってるぞ?』
『大丈夫よ』
『大丈夫って......!?』
アルファがバイクの運転を引き継いで、
高性能な荒野仕様のバイクを買ったのだから早速活用しましょう』
『ちょっと待て!? あれに突っ込むのは無理があるって!』
『遠慮しておく。俺がやったら壁や地面に激突しそうだ』
『その技術がアルファから頼まれている遺跡攻略に本当に必要ならな。......もしかして、あんな曲芸ができないと
『つまり、当時の警備装置とかもちゃんと整備された状態で稼動しているってことだろう? 入った途端に殺されるってことはないよな?』
『その辺は私の案内で注意して進めば大丈夫よ。だから、あの時みたいに勝手に進んだりしないでね?』
みを向ける。アキラはアルファの指示を無視して進んだ所為で巨大な機械系モンスターに襲われた時のことを思い出して苦笑した。
『了解だ。行こう』
旧世界の街並みを残す高度な都市区画。普通なら誰かが入った途端に警備機械が殺到しても不思議はない場所だ。しかしそれは起こらない。アキラの
確かにアルファは何かをしていた。しかしアキラが無意識に思っていた内容とは大分異なっていた。
アキラは周囲の光景を興味深そうに見ながら進んでいた。その区画だけ時間を旧世界時代に巻き戻したかのような街並みだが、人影だけは現在の
道は広く、路面に障害物もなく、他の車両なども見当たらない。だがアキラはアルファの指示でバイクの速度を上げずに安全運転で進んでいた。その速度は遺跡の外周部を進んでいる時よりも遅かった。
『アルファ。何でこんなにゆっくり進むんだ?』
『制限速度? 旧世界の遺跡にそんなのがあるのか?』
『あるの。ちゃんと守らないと駄目よ』
めるように話すアルファに、アキラが納得できない様子を見せる。
『......俺しかいないのに、それを守って進まないと駄目なのか?』
『規則というものはそういうものよ』
『そういうものなのか? うーん』
いた。それで内心のもやもやを振り払おうとしたのだが、別の疑問が湧いてくる。
『ちょっと思ったんだけどさ。あの防衛兵器みたいな機械系モンスターなら迷彩機能とかも持っているんだろう? 実は見えないだけでそこら辺にうじゃうじゃしている、なんてことはないよな? 旧世界の迷彩って、肉眼では全然見えないし、情報収集機器とかでも見つけ
『アキラが私の指示に従っている限り、全く問題ないわ』
『......いないんだよな?』
っているだけだ。アキラはそう思いながらも安全運転を強く心掛けた。
周辺は真昼の繁華街から人だけを突然完全に除去したような静けさ、不気味さ、奇妙さを漂わせている。だがハンターの視点で見れば遺物が山ほどありそうな建物がそこら中に存在している光景であり、宝の山の景色とも言える。アキラは商店らしい建物の前を通り過ぎるたびに、店の中に存在していると思える大量の遺物を想像して軽く目で追っていた。
その内にどこかの建物に入るのだろう。アキラはそう思っていたのだが、アルファがそれらしい様子を一向に見せずにひたすら移動を指示し続けていたので、
『アルファ。さっきから同じ場所を何度も通ってるけど、高値の遺物が大量にありそうな場所でも探しているのか?』
『そうか。まあ、その辺は任せるけど、取りあえずその辺の店に入ってみるってのは駄目なのか? どの店に入っても高そうな遺物がそれなりに有りそうな気がするんだけど......』
アルファが当然のことのように答える。
『......いや、え? 買う? 買うって......』
予想外の言葉を聞いたアキラが困惑する。旧世界の店舗に入り、そこらの遺物をリュックサックに詰めて、警備の機械系モンスター達を倒しながら店から脱出して、バイクに乗って全速力で離脱する。アキラの頭の中にあるその一連の流れに、金を出して遺物を買うという行動はどこにもなかったからだ。
『言いたいことは分かるわ。でもそれはちょっと無謀よ。この場の遺物をハンターの流儀で手に入れるとしたら、大規模な部隊を率いて街の防衛機械と一帯を半壊させながら交戦して、警備の戦力を一時的に無力化しながら遺物を運び出すしかないわ。この場を遺跡の外周部のような光景に変えるほどの戦力が必要になるわね。道路の規定速度を守って安全運転で進んでいる理由をもう忘れたの?』
『確かにそうだけどさ。それが駄目なら俺達はここに何をしに来たんだってことになるぞ? 命賭けでここまで観光に来たわけじゃないんだ。警備の甘い場所を見つけて押し入るしかないんじゃないか? さっきからうろうろしていたのは、それを探していたんじゃないのか?』
『その考えで間違ってはいないわ。でも押し入るとしても交戦する可能性が低い方が良いでしょう? 良いから私に任せなさい。アキラもその辺は私に任せるって言ったでしょう?』
く周囲を移動し続けていると、アキラが視界の先に妙なものを見付けて不思議そうな表情を浮かべた。少し先に巨大な高層ビルが見えるのだが、そのビルの側面に垂直に延びる道路が見えたのだ。
旧世界には変なものがある。そう思っているとバイクがそちらに向けて加速し始めた。アキラが嫌な予感に慌て始める。
『......アルファ、待て、またか? またなのか? あれはちょっと無理があるんじゃないか!?』
『大丈夫よ。ちょっと前にビルの側面を徒歩で駆け下りたでしょう? 今度はバイクで駆け上がるだけよ』
アキラが足下の方向を、ビルの側面の路面を見ながら顔を引きつらせる。既にかなりの高さまで上がっている。加速時の勢いも少しずつ落ち始めている。そのまま落ちたら真っ逆さまだ。
『旧世界の道路って垂直に進める機能でも付いてるのか!?』
『ここの道路にそんな機能はないわ。基本的にはただの壁と同じよ』
『ただの壁!? そんな場所を登ってるのか!?』
アキラが慌てている間にもバイクの勢いは落ちていく。このままだと勢いが完全に消えてそのまま落下してしまう。そう思ってバイクを握る手に力を込めた。しかしバイクはある程度まで速度を落としたものの、それ以上は速度を落とさずにそのままビルを登っていく。
アルファが困惑しているアキラを見て楽しげに笑う。
『壁にそんな機能はないけれど、バイクの方には落下防止の機能があるのよ。正確には、このバイクには不確かな地面の上で高速移動中でも機動性や操作性を失わないようにするために接地を維持する機能が備わっていて、それを応用しているの。タイヤが接地面をしっかりと
『予想外の事態が発生しても平静と冷静さを保つ訓練だと思いなさい』
アルファはそこまでは笑って答えた。そして表情を少し真面目なものに変えて、前方を指差す。
『これは先に言っておくわね。撃っては駄目よ。敵意を見せないで』
アキラがアルファの態度を見て表情を引き締める。そして前方を、ビルの高層部の方を見ると、その景色の一部が
アルファは前の機体に軽く手を振っている。機体のカメラがアルファの姿を捉えると、アルファが空中を指差した。そこに紋章のような図形が浮かぶ。全ての機体のカメラが一斉に動いてその紋様を注視する。
数秒後、大型警備機達がアキラ達から興味を失ったようにカメラを移動させる。そしてビルの上層側に戻る機体と地面側に進む機体に分かれて離れていく。その途中で光学迷彩を再び有効にしてアキラの視界から完全に消えていった。
アキラが緊張を解いて軽く息を吐く。そしてアルファに不満げな視線を向ける。
した。だが予想外のものを見てすぐに驚きの顔を見せた。
そこには黒を基調にした旧世界風のドレスを着た女性が立っていた。女性はアキラの到着を待っていたかのように驚きもせずにアキラを見ている。整った美貌の上に事務的な無愛想を浮かべており、少なくとも歓迎の意は全く感じられない。
バイクを
「ツバキハラビルへようこそ。私は当ビルの管理人格を務めるツバキと申します」
『アルファ。あれってまた立体映像ってやつか?』
「基本的には自動人形の機体を外部インターフェースに使用していますが、人格をこちらにも同期させていますよ。ローカル側でも視認するためにね。ネットワーク上の映像情報でも知覚していますが、そちらの情報は
「アルファが見えているし、話も聞こえているのか!?」
『アキラから私への念話は聞こえないわ。私からアキラへの念話は、受信制限が甘かったようで聞かれたようね。私の姿はネットワーク側で見ているのよ。ローカル側ではアキラしか見えていないわ。それにしても、直々に出迎えてくれるとはね。暇なの?』
のある態度を見せていたが、ツバキは特に反応を示さず澄まし顔のままだ。
「より多忙にしないための予防処置ですよ。御案内します。どうぞこちらへ」
ツバキがアキラに背を向けて奥へ進んでいく。アキラはまだ少し平静を欠いたまま立ち止まっていた。
『アキラ。行きましょう』
『えっ? ああ』
頭上に空はなく、トンネルの出入口は日が差し込むには遠すぎるが、内部は真昼のように明るい。タイヤ付きの多脚が付いた輸送機械や警備機械が壁や天井に貼り付いている。何らかの物資を積み込むために停止している個体もいれば、かなりの速度で通り過ぎていく機体もいる。アキラがビルの側面を登っている時に遭遇した機体もここでは光学迷彩を解除していた。
く進むとツバキが立ち止まり、振り返って右の壁側を指差す。その方向には高さ3メートルほどの頑丈そうな扉があった。扉が静かに左右に開いていく。かなり厚い金属製の扉が開いた中には、何らかの倉庫のように見える部屋の光景が広がっていた。
「あちらです。用事が済み次第速やかにお引取りを」
Ch 169
After Akira arrived near Kuzusuhara ruin, he followed Alpha's instruction to take a particular route. He paced his bike around the outskirts of the ruin as if to circle the whole ruin.
"Alpha, why are we not going into the ruin?"
"If we go into the ruin, we'll have to go near the temporary front base. It's not like we can use that wide road made for sending supplies into the deeper part of the ruin."
"But isn't it easier if we just go through that road? Since it's a properly built road."
Alpha's expression was saying 'you didn't get it, didn't you?' as she shook her head.
"If you go through there, it'll definitely gather a lot of attention, you know? A young and not-so-strong-looking Hunter going back home with a lot of expensive relics. A rumour like that would definitely spread around if we do that."
Akira slightly frowned.
"I'm no longer the old me. After all, my current equipment cost me 500 million Aurum, so are they really going to still look at me as a young weak Hunter?"
"Indeed the current you have way better equipment compared to the past you, but judging from the relative danger of the places that you're frequenting, you still look like a young boy coming into dangerous places that don't suit your current skill. Of course, if you say that you can fight those big monsters guarding old-world facilities without my help, that would change my mind."
"...That would be a no."
Akira looked a bit depressed, Alpha smiled at him as if to cheer him up while also approving of his reply. He smiled bitterly in reaction to that as he paced his bike faster. Not too long after that, once he had put enough distance between him and the temporary front base, Akira went into the ruin.
"Alpha? The way forward is blocked, you know?"
"It's fine."
"It's fine...?"
Alpha took control of the bike and accelerated right into that pile of rubble. Akira was slightly thrown off-balance by the sudden acceleration but he flusteredly returned to his posture.
"It would take too much time evading all the blocking rubbles. Since you got yourself an expensive bike, let's make the best use of it."
"Wait for a sec!? There's no way we can just charge through that pile of rubble!!"
"Thanks for the offer, but no. If I do that myself, I feel like I would crash into the wall instead."
"If it's really something that I need to learn in order to finish that request of yours, then sure... Or is that there are places that I can't go to unless I learn that trick?"
"So in short, those security drones are also roaming around this place, right? It's not like I would get shot the moment I enter the city, right?"
"Well, regarding that, it would be fine if you just follow my instructions. That's why, make sure not to ignore my instruction like before, okay?"
Alpha had a rather deep sarcastic smile when she said that. Akira remembered the time when he got attacked by a huge monster when he ignored Alpha's instruction and smiled bitterly.
"Roger that, let's go then."
An old-world city that still maintained its condition. Normally, anyone would get killed the moment they stepped into that city. But that did not happen. The thing besides Akira was preventing that from happening, Alpha had the ability to prevent that from happening.
It was true that it was thanks to Alpha. But in reality, it was completely different from what he guessed.
Akira looked around with full interest. The area around him was properly maintained, it was as if he was brought back to the old-world era. But with no human presence anywhere, it was unsettlingly calm and silent.
The road was wide and nothing was blocking the road, though there were also no other vehicles or bikes other than Akira's bike. But even so, he followed Alpha's instruction not to pace his bike too fast. Compared to when he was outside the city, he was going rather slowly.
"Alpha, why do we have to go this slowly?"
"Speed limit? Does that kind of thing exist in the old-world ruin?"
"Yup, so we have to properly obey it."
Alpha was speaking as if to calm down a small boy, Akira seemed to be not fully convinced by that.
"...There's no one else other than me here though, do I still need to obey the speed limit?"
"That's just how law and rule work, you see."
"Is that so? I see then."
Akira nodded firmly while making an annoyed face. Although it was able to fully convince him, another question came up in his mind.
"I just thought of something though. Those mechanical monsters guarding the old-world facilities usually have that camouflaging device, right? So it's not like they are actually hiding somewhere nearby, right? After all, it's impossible to see through old-world camouflaging with naked eyes, right? And it's hard to detect them even with an information-gathering device. So like, are we really going to be alright?"
"As long as you keep following my instructions, there won't be any trouble."
"...They're not here, right?"
Akira kept telling himself that Alpha was only teasing him in order to calm his nerves.
The area that Akira was in looked like a downtown district in broad daylight except for the missing human presence, it was completely silent and filled with an abnormal atmosphere as if all the humans there suddenly vanished in one snap. But from the point of view of a Hunter, it looked like a treasure trove filled with valuable old-world relics. It could even be said that it was a mountain of relics. Every time Akira passed a building that looked like a shop, he could not help but peek inside, imagining all the valuable old-world relics that he might find inside them.
Akira thought that sooner or later, he would go inside one of those buildings, but Alpha did not show any sign of that at all as she kept pacing the bike forward. So Akira could not help but get curious and asked her.
"Alpha, I feel like we've been going around the same area multiple times now, are we looking for a building with expensive relics or something?"
"I see. Well, I'll leave that to you, but like, can we stop and take a look at one of those shops? I feel like we can get expensive relics no matter which one we go to though..."
Alpha replied casually.
"...Buy? No, I mean like, wait, buy...?"
Akira was confused, he did not expect Alpha to say that. What he had in mind when he asked Alpha that question was to break into one of those shops, fill his rucksack with any expensive relics that he could find, and escape the building while fighting back the security drones before finally getting away from that place on his bike. He did not expect to have to pay anything with his money.
"I understand what you want to say, but that would be too dangerous. The only way to get out from this place with those relics is to bring along the city defence squad, render the security drones temporarily disabled, and get out from this place while they are still disabled. And of course, the ensuing battle would leave this place half-destroyed. You need enough firepower to turn this place like the outskirts of this ruin. Have you forgotten the reason why we have to obey the speed limit?"
"Well, you have a point there, but if I can't do that, then why are we here? It's not like I came here risking my life just for sightseeing, you know. My only choice would be to look for a place with relatively weak security to break in, right? Isn't that why we're just roaming around the area?"
"That line of thinking is not wrong, but it's better to break into a place where it's unlikely to turn into a fight, right? Just leave that to me, you did say that you're leaving that kind of thing to me too, remember?"
Even after that, they were still only driving around the area for some time. Akira then noticed something strange in front of him and squinted his eyes. He could see a tall building in front of him, and there was a vertical road on the side of that building.
When Akira thought that the old-world ruin was indeed a place filled with strange things, his bike suddenly accelerated. Akira raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"...Alpha, wait, are we going to climb the side of a building again? I don't think we can do it for that road though?!"
"Don't worry. Not to mention, you ran down on the side of a building not too long ago, remember? We'll do that again but with a bike this time."
Akira looked down past his feet and into the wall of the building and frowned. He already climbed pretty high up and his bike also started slowing down, if he fell down now, it would be simply disastrous.
"Is it that the old-world roads even have a feature that allows people to drive vertically?"
"Not in this road here, this one is basically just a simple wall."
"Just a wall!? And I'm scaling a normal wall?!"
As Akira was dumbfounded, the bike slowed down even more. At this rate, he would be falling down with his bike. As he thought so, he immediately grabbed his bike's handlebar and raised its power. But the bike kept slowing down, and once it reached a certain speed, it stopped slowing down and continued climbing at a constant speed.
Alpha smiled amusedly at Akira who was still in a panic.
"Although the wall doesn't have that feature, the bike has the feature to prevent you from falling over. Or to be more precise, it has the feature to stick its wheels on the surface that it's running in order to prevent losing control of the bike when you're driving through uneven ground. Since its wheels are sticking on the surface, you won't fall that easily. Compared to the last time you were running on a building's wall, this time it's way safer, isn't it?"
"Just think of it as a training for you to keep calm at a time of emergency or when facing an unexpected turn of events."
Alpha said so while smiling. Her expression then suddenly turned rather serious as she pointed her finger.
"Let me warn you about one thing. Don't shoot at it and don't show any hostility."
Akira looked at Alpha's expression and frowned. He then looked forward in the direction that she was pointing at and noticed that a portion of the towering side of the building was distorted. As he put up his guard, the distorted part of the building revealed a mechanical monster. That monster was disengaging its camouflaging device.
Alpha lightly waved at that drone. The drone looked toward Alpha, who pointed her finger and an insignia appeared floating on the tip of her finger. All the drones there immediately focused their cameras on that insignia.
A few seconds afterwards, all of those drones looked away as if they just lost interest in Akira and Alpha. They then broke up into two groups, one group went up the building, while the rest went down the building. On their way, they reactivated their camouflaging device and vanished from Akira's views.
Akira lightly sighed and lowered his guard. He then sent an annoyed look at Alpha.
After Akira went through another slope, his posture was back to normal and he felt slightly relieved. But he immediately spotted something that he did not expect and was astonished.
A girl in a black old-world dress was standing there. In contrast to Akira, she did not look surprised at all as if she had been waiting for him. She had a beautiful appearance but she looked at Akira with a business-like expressionless face. At least, she did not look welcoming at all.
She then spoke in a business-like tone to Akira, who had already stopped his bike.
"Welcome to the Tsubakihara building. I'm the manager of this building, Tsubaki."
"Alpha, is that one of those projected hologram image thingies?"
"Normally, automata are used for an external interface, but in my case, my personality is also downloaded over to this body to allow me to be seen through local connection too. So normally, you should be able to recognize me through your information-gathering device too, but since your information-gathering device has been completely rewritten, I came with this body just to be safe."
"Alpha, not only she can see you, she can even talk to you too, huh?!"
"But she can't hear telepathic communication between you and me, though that doesn't seem to be the case for the telepathic communication from me to you. She can see me through the network, but locally, she can only see you. But still, to think that she would come all the way here to welcome us, I wonder if she doesn't have anything else better to do."
Alpha somehow looked rather displeased. But Tsubaki did not seem to be bothered by that at all.
"It's a precaution so that I won't get even busier later. I'll guide you in. Over here, please."
Tsubaki turned around and went into the building. Akira was still a bit surprised as he just stood there.
"Akira, let's go."
"Eh? Ah, right."
Although Akira was not wearing anything on his head and the sunlight was far away from his reach, he was clearly able to see the interior of the building as if it was under broad daylight. There were multiple multi-legged security drones from before roaming on the walls and the ceilings of that building. Some of them were not moving as they were loading something, while some of them were moving around at a rather high speed. Just like the drones that Akira encountered on his way, all of them had already disengaged their camouflaging devices.
Not too long afterwards, Tsubaki stopped, turned around, and pointed at the wall on her right. There was a ginormous imposing-looking door. The door silently opened up. Behind that thick metallic door, was a room that looked like a warehouse.
"It's over there. Please leave as soon as you're done with your business here."
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